Top scientists warn of an Amazon ‘tipping point’

Deforestation and other fast-moving changes in the Amazon threaten to turn parts of the rainforest into savanna, devastate wildlife and release billions of tons carbon into the atmosphere, two renowned experts warned Friday. 

“The precious Amazon is teetering on the edge of functional destruction and, with it, so are we,” Thomas Lovejoy of George Mason University and Carlos Nobre of the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, both of whom have studied the world’s largest rainforest for decades, wrote in an editorial in the journal Science Advances. “Today, we stand exactly in a moment of destiny: The tipping point is here, it is now.”

Combined with recent news that the thawing Arctic permafrost may be beginning to fill the atmosphere with greenhouse gases, and that Greenland’s ice sheet is melting at an accelerating pace, it’s the latest hint that important parts of the climate system may be moving toward irreversible changes at a pace that defies earlier predictions.

Read the story from The Washington Post by Chris Mooney and Brady Dennis - “Top scientists warn of an Amazon ‘tipping point’.”

‘This situation brings me to despair’: two reef scientists share their climate grief

As I write this, much of inland eastern Australia is enduring what is likely to be the worst drought ever recorded. Bushfires are devastating parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland, tearing through rainforest that should not be dry enough to burn. Major towns will probably soon run out of water. The condition of the vital Murray-Darling river system is dire.

A researcher completing bleaching surveys in the
southern Great Barrier Reef after a major bleaching event. 

Some federal government MPs have responded by questioning whether these events are linked to anthropogenic, or man-made, climate change. Others deny the science outright. Now we have a politically motivated Senate inquiry into water quality on the Great Barrier Reef.

This situation brings me to despair. For the past 45 years I have researched and managed coral reef water quality in Australia and overseas. Now 72, I see that much of my work, and that of my colleagues, has not led to a bright future for coral reefs. In decades to come they will probably still contain some corals, but ecologically speaking they will not be growing, or even functioning.

Read the story from The Conversation - “‘This situation brings me to despair’: two reef scientists share their climate grief.”

When trees make rain: Could restoring forests help ease drought in Australia?

If you've ever walked in a rainforest or even a greenhouse, you'll know that the air inside is heavy with moisture.

There is growing evidence that forests, in the right
conditions, not only make rain locally but kilometres away.

This phenomenon is caused by trees releasing water vapour through pores in their leaves called stomata.

We also know that many big forests, and rainforests in particular, tend to get more rain than surrounding areas — hence the name.

Although people have guessed that forests could help make rain, it's always been a chicken-or-egg scenario: do forests make rain or do areas with high rainfall grow forests?

An expanding body of evidence supports the idea that forests, in the right conditions, not only make rain locally but also hundreds of kilometres away.

Read the story by Nick Kilvert from ABC News - “When trees make rain: Could restoring forests help ease drought in Australia?”