AMAZON PEATLANDS IN PERIL: A WARNING FOR GLOBAL WARMING
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4257/oeco.2021.2501.01Keywords:
Brazilian government, greenhouse gas emissions, global warming, climate change.Abstract
The Amazon rainforest has been the target of several attacks, such as the massive increase in deforestation and fire outbreaks. The Amazon biome is not only composed of forest ecosystems, but also of an important carbon stock system called Peatland, which contains ca. 1 to 8 billion tons of carbon in its plants and soil. If burned, this peculiar ecosystem is likely to release tons of greenhouse gases, which may aggravate global warming. Therefore, our objective is to alert and anticipate problems associated with deforestation and fires in Peatland that, if not contained, may difficult global warming controlling, and the achievement of goals set in the Paris Agreement (which Brazil is a signatory).
References
Abessa, D., Famá, A., & Buruaem, L. 2019. The systematic dismantling of Brazilian environmental laws risks losses on all fronts. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 3, 510–511. DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0855-9
Adrianto, H. A., Spracklen, D. V., Arnold, S. R., Sitanggang, I. S., & Syaufina, L. 2020. Forest and Land Fires Are Mainly Associated with Deforestation in Riau Province, Indonesia. Remote Sensing, 12(3), 1–12. DOI:10.3390/rs12010003
Alencar A., Moutinho, P., Arruda, V., & Silvério, D. 2020. Amazonas em chamas - O fogo e o desmatamento me 2019 e o que vem em 2020. Nota técnica nº 3. Brasília: Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia, 2020. Disponível em: https://ipam.org.br/bibliotecas/amazonia-em-chamas-3-o-fogo-e-o-desmatamento-em-2019-e-o-que-vem--em-2020.
Amaral, A. C. 2020. Desmate na Amazônia aumenta 51 % no 1º trimestre e bate recorde do período. https://ambiencia.blogfolha.uol.com.br/2020/04/13/desmate-na-amazonia-aumenta-51-no-1o-trimestre-e-bate-recorde-do-periodo/ (accessed 15.06.2020).
Andrade, R. O. 2019. Alarming surge in Amazon fires prompts global outcry. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02537-0 (accessed 02.06.2020).
Aragão, L. E. O. C., Silva Junior, C. H. L., Anderson, L. O. 2020. O desafio do Brasil para conter o desmatamento e as queimadas na Amazônia durante a pandemia por COVID-19 em 2020: implicações ambientais, sociais e sua governança. São José dos Campos. p. 34. SEI/INPE: 01340.004481/2020-96/5543324. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.11908.76167/1
Baker, J. C. A., & Spracklen, D. V. 2019. Climate Benefits of Intact Amazon Forests and the Biophysical Consequences of Disturbance. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change. DOI: 10.3389/ffgc.2019.00047
Barlow, J., Berenguer, E., Carmenta, R., França, F. 2019. Clarifying Amazonia's burning crisis. Global Change Biology, 26(2), 319-321. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.14872
Boffey, D. 2019. Norway halts Amazon fund donation in dispute with Brazil, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/16/norway-halts-amazon-fund-donation-dispute-brazil-deforestation-jair-bolsonaro (accessed 02.06.2020).
Convention on Biological Diversity. 2010. Aichi Biodiversity Targets, https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/ (accessed 06.06.2020).
Costa, M. H., & Pires, G. F. 2009. Effects of Amazon and Central Brazil deforestation scenarios on the duration of the dry season in the arc of deforestation. International Journal of Climatology, 30(13), 1970-1979. DOI: 10.1002/joc.2048
Draper, F. C., Roucoux, K. H., Lawson, I. T., Mitchard, E. T. A., Coronado, E. N. H., Lähteenoja, O., Montenegro, L. T., Sandoval, E. V., Zaráte, R., & Baker, T. R. 2014. The distribution and amount of carbon in the largest peatland complex in Amazonia. Environmental Research Letters, 9, 124017. DOI:10.1088/1748-9326/9/12/124017
Dubroeucq, D., & Volkoff, B. 1998. From oxisols to spodosols and histosols: evolution of the soil mantles in the Río Negro basin (Amazonia). Catena, 32, 245–280.
Escobar, H. 2019. Deforestation in the Amazon is shooting up, but Brazil’s president calls the data ‘a lie’ https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/deforestation-amazon-shooting-brazil-s-president-calls-data-lie (accessed 03.06.2020).
Fearnside, P. M. 2008. The roles and movements of actors in the deforestation of Brazilian Amazonia. Ecology and Society, 13(1), 23.
G1. 2014. Incêndio na reserva do Lago Piratuba, no Amapá, atinge 3 mil hectares. http://g1.globo.com/ap/amapa/noticia/2014/11/incendio-na-reserva-do-lago-piratuba-no-amapa-atinge-3-mil-hectares.html (accessed 18.09.2020).
Gewin, V. 2020. How peat could protect the planet. Nature, 578, 204–208. DOI: 10.1038/d41586-020-00355-3
Gumbricht, T., Roman‐Cuesta, R. M., Herold, L. V. M., Wittmann, F., Householder, E., Herold, N., & Murdiyarso, D. 2017. An expert system model for mapping tropical wetlands and peatlands reveals South America as the largest contributor. Global Change Biology, 23 (9), 3581–3599. DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13689
ICMBio. 2014. Incêndio criminoso atinge Reserva Biológica no Amapá. https://www.icmbio.gov.br/portal/ultimas-noticias/5196-incendio-criminoso-atinge-reserva-biologica-no-amapa (accessed 16.09.2020).
IPAM. 2015. Arco do desmatamento. https://ipam.org.br/glossario/arco-do-desmatamento/ (accessed 06.10.2020).
Kiely, L., Spracklen, D. V., Wiedinmyer, C., Conibear, L., Reddington, C. L., Archer-Nicholls, S., Lowe, D., Arnold, S. R., Knote, C., Khan, M. F., Latif, M. T., Kuwata, M., Budisulistiorini, S. H., & Syaufina, L. 2019. New estimate of particulate emissions from Indonesian peat fires in 2015. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 19, 11105–11121. DOI: 10.5194
Lähteenoja, O., Flores, B., & Nelson, B. 2013. Tropical Peat Accumulation in Central Amazonia. Wetlands, 33, 495–503. DOI: 10.1007/s13157-013-0406-0
Lähteenoja, O., Reátegui, Y. R., Räsänen, M., Torres, D. D. C., Oinonen, M., & Page, S. 2012. The large Amazonian peatland carbon sink in the subsiding Pastaza-Marañón foreland basin. Peru Global Change Biology, 18(1), 164–178. DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2011.02504.x
Lilleskov, E., McCullough, K., Hergoualc’h, K., Torres, G. C., Chimner, R., Murdiyarso, D., Kolka, R., Bourgeau-Chavez, L., Hribljan, J., Pasquel, J. A., & Wayson, C. 2019. Is Indonesian peatland loss a cautionary tale for Peru? A two-country comparison of the magnitude and causes of tropical peatland degradation. Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 24, 591–623. DOI: 10.1007/s11027-018-9790-3
Madeiro, C. 2019. Inpe: Fogo queimou área de 4,2 mi campos de futebol na Amazônia em agosto. https://noticias.uol.com.br/meio-ambiente/ultimas-noticias/redacao/2019/09/03/inpe-fogo-queimou-area-de-34-mi-campos-de-futebol-na-amazonia-em-agosto.htm (accessed 03.06.2020).
Martinez, M. R. 2019. Satellite images show expanding fire at South American tri-border area. https://www.euronews.com/2019/08/27/satellite-images-show-expanding-fire-at-south-american-tri-border-area (accessed 06.06.2020).
Ministério das Relações Exteriores. 2019. Organização do Tratado de Cooperação Amazônica. http://www.itamaraty.gov.br/pt-BR/politica-externa/integracao-regional/691-organizacao-do-tratado-de-cooperacao-amazonica-otca (accessed 04.06.2020).
Mortara, S. R., Rosa, P., Ribeiro, J. W., Sánchez-Tapia, A., Ferreira, G. C., Fernandez, E., Siqueira, M. F., & Martinelli, G. 2020. Amazonian fires endanger threatened plants and protected áreas. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 18(4),177–178. DOI: 10.1002/fee.2197
Moutinho, P., Alencar, A., Arruda, V., Castro, I., & Artaxo, P. 2020. Nota técnica nº 3: Amazônia em Chamas - desmatamento e fogo em tempos de covid-19. Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia. Brasília. Disponível em: https://ipam.org.br/bibliotecas/amazonia-em-chamas-4-desmatamento-e-fogo-em-tempos-de-covid-19-na-amazonia/
Murdiyarso, D., Roman-Cuesta, R. M., Verchot, L., Herold, M., Gumbricht, T., Herold, N., & Martius, C. 2017. New map reveals more peat in the tropics. Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), 189. DOI: 10.17528/cifor/006452
NASA. 2020. Measuring Drought in South America. https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/146537/measuring-drought-in-south-america (accessed 06.10.2020).
OTCA 2012. Projeto de Monitoramento da Cobertura Florestal. http://www.otca-oficial.info/projects/details/12 (accessed 06.10.2020).
Page, S. E., Siegert, F., Rieley, J. O., Boehm, H. D. V., Jaya, A., Limin, S. 2002. The amount of carbon released from peat and forest fires in Indonesia during 1997. Nature, 420, 61–65. DOI: 10.1038/nature01131
Rebecca Lai, K. K., Lu, D., & Blacki, M. 2019. What satellite imagery tells us about the Amazon rain forest fires, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/24/world/americas/amazon-rain-forest-fire-maps.html (accessed 03.06.2020).
Román-Cuesta, R. M., Salinas, N., Asbjornsen, H., Oliveras, I., Huamand, V., Gutiérrez, Y., Puelles, L., Kala, J., Yabar, D., Rojas, M., Astete, R., Jordán, D. Y., Silman, M., Mosandl, R., Weber, M., Stimm, B., Günter, S., Knoke, T., & Malhi, Y.. 2011. Implications of fires on carbon budgets in Andean cloud montane forest: The importance of peat soils and tree resprouting. Forest Ecology and Management, 261(11),1987–1997. DOI: 10.1016/j.foreco.2011.02.025
Suszczynski, E. F. 1984. The peat resources of Brazil. Proceedings of the 7th International Peat Congress, Dublin 1, 468–492.
United Nations Climate Change. 2016. The Paris Agreement – Status of Rarification. https://unfccc.int/process/the-paris-agreement/status-of-ratification (accessed 06.06.2020).
United Nations. 2019. Conservation and sustainable management of peatlands. https://papersmart.unon.org/resolution/uploads/k1900729.pdf (accessed 03.10.2020).
