Amazon Rainforest Could Die In 49 Years Time, Scientists Warn

Scientists have warned that the beautiful and rich ecosystem found in the Amazon Rainforest could soon turn into a dry land within a century.

The scientists argue that some of the largest ecosystems are likely to collapse faster than previously thought solely due to unfavorable human activities.

The study which was published in a Nature Communications journal revealed that Amazon could be 49 years away from perishing, and unfortunately, its beauty would never return as it might turn in to a grassy savannah.

John Dearing, a professor of physical geography said that some of the biggest ecosystems in the world are likely to collapse much quicker than once thought and it would only take decades for it to happen.

“A forest that is 100 times bigger than another one does take longer to collapse, but it will take much less than 100 times the time…”Dearing warned.

These natural resources are not dying a natural death, they are being tortured and executed by human activities. The same humans who depend on these ecosystems for food and other needs.

Most human activists are responsible for the adverse climatic conditions which in turn affect the well-being of our natural ecosystems.

Since 1970, it is estimated that human activities and wildfires (which are obviously caused by humans) have wiped out 5 million square kilometers of the Amazon Rainforest.

When you add in additional stresses like pollution, deforestation, overgrazing, overfishing, and the fact that you’ve got this stress in the background just magnifies the chance that the systems could actually collapse quite quickly.

However, scientists say that humans will pay the prices for their heinous acts if the natural resources continue to die at the same rate. Humans will lose food, water through rain and other essential things like medicine.

“We will see a lot of species go extinct. Some of those won’t be essential to our survival, but if it means that we lose genetic resources, we lose the possibility of new pharmaceuticals, then we’re losing a lot of that potential wealth that those forests give us.”

Other than the Amazon rainforest, other ecosystems have been estimated to die in less than 15 years’ time. An example is the Jamaican Coral Reefs which scientists estimated its death to occur in 15 years’ time.

The researchers said that Jamaican Coral Reefs will die and turn to an algae-dominated ecosystem in less than a decade. Niger’s agricultural lands in the Maradi region will only last for 20 years before it turns to a desert.

When a comparison is done between the naturally induced activities versus human-induced ones, the findings are intriguing.

Natural Activities like volcanic eruptions, tend to destroy the environment but within a very short time, the affected place is restituted and might become even better.

Human-induced activities, on the other hand, have long term effects and can cause permanent damage to the environment. Some of the adverse climatic conditions used to take thousands of years to be witnessed, but due to unfavorable human acts, they are witnessed day in day out.

“What we are seeing is ecosystems that are not really bouncing back, they are staying in this kind of stable but degraded state.”

The scientists warn that “Humanity needs to prepare for changes far sooner than expected.”