Global Warming Puts Amazon at Risk - AP

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Source: Associated Press

Global Warming Puts Amazon at Risk

Thursday December 6, 2007 8:01 PM

By MICHAEL CASEY

AP Environmental Writer

BALI, Indonesia (AP) - The impact of climate change
plus deforestation could wipe out or severely damage
nearly 60 percent of the Amazon forest by 2030 -
making it impossible to keep global temperatures from
reaching catastrophic levels, an environmental group
said Thursday.

Several recent studies have suggested similar findings,
but scientists say the size and complexity of the
Amazon leaves many questions about the rain forest's
future open to debate. Brazil's Environment Ministry
did not respond this week to a request for comment.

“The importance of the Amazon forest for the globe's
climate cannot be underplayed,” said Daniel Nepstad,
author of a new report by the World Wide Fund For
Nature released at the U.N. climate change conference
in Bali.

“It's not only essential for cooling the world's
temperature, but also such a large source of fresh
water that it may be enough to influence some of the
great ocean currents, and on top of that, it's a
massive store of carbon.”

-snip-

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7132730,00.html