The Cancun climate talks resulted in some progress especially in the area of financial agreements made to preserve forests. However, in 2010, the world saw another drought strike the Amazon forests. The forests currently form the lungs of the earth absorbing more than one-quarter of the world’s atmospheric carbon, making them critical to the discussion about global warming.
Scientists and researchers have estimated that 8.5 billion tonnes of CO2 will be released into the earth’s atmosphere due to the absence of the trees which were once part of the Amazon. What is worrisome is that there was a similar drought that occurred in 2005. Climatologists claim that the droughts of 2005 and 2010 are consistent with the idea that global warming will cause more droughts in future, emit more carbon, and potentially lead to a climate change crisis.
Though this news has appeared in through several channels and in mainstream media, the enormity of the situation does not strike till our own experience of extreme weather conditions, unavailability of crops and extinction of local plants and animal species. An interesting graphic (given below) by InfographicWorld (representing the deforestation of the Amazon), provides a stark wake up call.