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When concerning ourselves with the future of the earth’s climate we must not make the grave mistake of counting only the quantities of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from the combustion of fossil fuels, while neglecting those from changes in vegetation cover. But, there is another crucial dimension too: the role of natural ecosystems in giving us a climate we can live with. In this context the future of the Amazon forest is absolutely vital. In its entirety the Amazon Basin covers some 7 million square kilometres, the lion’s share, some 5 million square kilometres in Brazil, and the remainder across seven independent nations plus France’s colony Cayenne. At least 60 per cent of the world’s remaining tropical rainforests, with their unsurpassed biodiversity, including an estimated 55,000 different plant species, are to be found in the Amazon. Moreover, the forests in the Amazon Basin contain at least one-fifth the equivalent of all the carbon currently in the atmosphere and recent studies suggest that intact Amazonian forests may also be functioning as a globally significant carbon sink, mopping up some of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere from industrial emissions.

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2008-08-03   |   922 visitas   |   Evalua este artículo 0 valoraciones

Vol. 11 Núm.1. Enero-Junio 2007 Pags. 7-20. Rev Orinoquia 2007; 11(1)