We’re Turning the Amazon Into a Savannah

Over the past 50 years, human intervention has been increasingly disrupting the ecological balance of the Amazon. Climate change has led to an increase in temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius across the basin, and to more frequent severe droughts. The droughts of 2005, 2010 and 2015-16 were among the worst in more than 100 years. Since 1980, there’s been an increase in the duration of dry seasons by three to four weeks in the more degraded areas of the Amazon.  Rainforests also increase evaporation and keep surfaces cool. Deforestation could cause temperatures in the basin to increase by 2 to 3 degrees Celsius by 2050. It reduces rainfall, because trees cycle moisture back into the atmosphere. - NYTimes