A new study found that more than 10 percent of the trees and plants in the Amazon rainforest were removed due to human activities.
The study is the first to provide insight on how humans directly affected the ability of the rainforest to store carbon.
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh blamed logging on the increasing amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As humans continue to remove more trees, there are lesser trees to absorb carbon. In the long run, this activity can have a potential impact on climate change.
The team presented maps showing the size of the Amazon if humans had not deforested majority of it. The maps revealed how the humans' logging activities changed the rainforest since the 1960s.
"Our study indicates that the impact of large-scale deforestation on the Amazon carbon balance has been partially offset by ongoing regrowth of vegetation, despite sustained human activity. Overall, our results provide a baseline to better understand the global carbon cycle," Jean-François Exbrayat, study leader from the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, said in a news release.
The study estimated that 1.5 percent of the increase in carbon dioxide levels was brought by the deforestation of the Amazon; the majority was due to fossil fuel emissions. The researchers also calculated that if humans did not cut down the trees, the Amazon rainforest would be capable of storing at least 12 percent of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, counteracting fossil fuel emissions and reducing the rate of climate change.
The widespread removal of trees does not only affect the carbon dioxide levels; it can also disrupt the population of animal and plant species.
The study was published in the April 21 issue of the Geophysical Journal Letters.
