This degradation could eventually lead to “a spiraling loop of feedbacks,” Jos Barlow, a professor of conservation science at Lancaster University in the U.K. and co-author of the paper, told Newsweek.
The degradation of this area—equivalent to 5.5 times the size of the state of California—releases carbon emissions equivalent to or greater than those from deforestation.
Deforestation involves a loss of the forest canopy and a change in land use (e.g., from forest to agriculture or urban land use), while degradation is a process affecting the remaining forests. Degradation essentially means that there is still forest in place but it is not as healthy or as good at providing benefits for the environment or for people.
The authors of the new paper evaluated four key activities driving forest degradation: forest fires, edge effects (changes in forests next to deforested areas), selective logging (including illegal logging) and extreme drought. More than one of these effects can act in tandem in a single area of rainforest.
The authors of the newest research paper predict these four degradation factors will continue to be major sources of carbon emissions into the atmosphere by 2050, regardless of the changes in the deforestation of the forest.
“This has already occurred in some regions—the challenge now is to prevent it occurring across much larger areas, which will be increasingly difficult as climate change progresses.”
Climate change is also increasing drought in the rainforest, which can lead to rivers drying up and other plant and animal species dying out.
So, what can we do to stop this occurring?
“It is important to avoid degradation from forest areas that have not yet been disturbed (or at least within the past 200-300 years) and are critical areas for carbon storage, biodiversity conservation, and protecting watersheds,” Chazdon said. “Some people call these “intact forest landscapes.”
In most cases of low to moderate levels of degradation, forests can recover well on their own as long as they are protected from incursions and fires. In highly degraded areas, however, some restoration practices will be needed to assist recovery (such as control of grasses or other weedy plants that prevent trees from re-establishing) and in other cases replanting may be needed.
Thompson suggested one of the most immediate things that could be done on the ground is to stop road-building and limit access into the rainforest.
“Where roads go, forest loss and degradation follow,” she said.
“An important first step is to prevent further deforestation, which of course has many other benefits for climate, biodiversity and society as a whole,” Barlow said. “But this also needs to be accompanied by multi-scale actions that tackle the disturbances that cause degradation.”
Locally, Barlow suggested actions to improve fire management, reducing the risks of forest fires in dry years.
“Improvements to legislation and governance would help prevent the pervasive illegal logging that occurs along the frontier. And globally, action to limit climate change is key to preventing worsening droughts and the accompanying forest fires,” Barlow said.
“Climate change is so important to address as it is a driver on its own, with extreme droughts killing some of the largest forest trees that take many hundreds of years to grow. These droughts are also a key driver of forest fires, causing rapid and severe degradation across millions of hectares of forests.”
