Scientists Fear Amazon May Face Early Destruction (1/3)

Researcher Dan Nepstad calls it a "perfect storm" of deforestation: as fire and ranching destroy the Amazon forest in Brazil, the remaining trees release less moisture, producing a dryer climate that kills more trees. It adds up to a vicious cycle of destruction.

A World Bank-funded study released early this year predicted the Amazon could become a grassy savannah by the end of the century.

Nepstad produced a report for the World Wildlife Fund for nature or WWF that was released at the Bali climate change conference. He says substantial destruction could come much sooner than that.

"If we add these processes up, we see that by 2030 - not by the end of the century but in the next two and a half decades - given current trends, 55 percent of the forests of the Amazon will have been cleared or impoverished through some combination of logging, drought and fire."

Living trees absorb carbon, and many scientists believe the release of carbon into the atmosphere is warming the planet and fueling global climate change.

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研究者Dan Nepstad 称它为毁灭森林的“完美风暴”：由于火灾和放牧破坏了巴西的亚马孙森林，其余树木释放水分减少，所产生的干燥气候使多种树木死亡。这意味着破坏的恶性循环。

最近公布的一项世界银行资助的研究预测到本世纪末，亚马逊森林将变为南美洲那样的草原
 
Nepstad给世界野生动物基金会提了一份报告，在巴厘岛气候变化会议上被发表。他说潜在的破坏会比那些情况来得更快。

“如果我们加速这个过程，并考虑到现在的趋势，我们会发现到2030年-而非本世纪末，但是在未来的25年，55%的亚马孙森林会由于采伐、干旱以及火灾的联合作用而消失或者变贫瘠。”

活的树木吸收碳，并且许多科学家认为释放入大气的碳是地球变暖，并加速了地球气候的改变。