The Amazon rainforest, the world’s single largest remaining tropical rainforest, is losing its ability to bounce back from damage caused by droughts, fires and deforestation. Large swathes could become sparsely forested savannah, much less efficient at sucking CO2 from the air. Parts of the Amazon now emit more than can be absorbed. It houses at least 10% of the world’s known biodiversity, including endemic and endangered flora and fauna, and its river accounts for 15-16% of the world’s total river discharge into the oceans with the world’s largest number of freshwater fish species. The rainforest strongly influences rainfall all over South America by way of its enormous evapotranspiration. When the tipping becomes observable, it will be too late to reverse it.
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