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Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia Meets for 2004 Conference
Mega-Amazon Research Project Holds Surprises - Good and Bad
Mario Osava
Inter Press Service (IPS)
24 July 2004
Original Article
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 23 (IPS) - "There will be many surprises, both good and bad" emerging from the studies carried out as part of the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), predicted one of the project's coordinators, researcher Flavio Luizao.
The LBA, the biggest-ever international scientific cooperation programme focusing on the environment, involves 170 Brazilian and foreign institutions.
Its third conference will draw some 800 delegates to the Brazilian capital from Tuesday to Thursday next week to share the outcome of around 700 studies.
The programme, launched in 1998, has already shown that the Amazon jungle is not as homogeneous as it might appear, and that it provides great environmental services as a carbon sink and a generator of clouds and heat, influencing the climate over vast areas of the planet.
Amazon rainforests absorb carbon dioxide -- the main gas contributing to the greenhouse effect and the subsequent global warming -- but it is still not known if the forests take in enough to compensate the emissions caused by deforestation and - slash and burn" agriculture, Luizao told IPS.
LBA research shows Amazon forests absorb one half to one ton of carbon per hectare per year.
Considering the vast expanse of the jungle region that is shared by eight South American countries, it is clear that an "immense quantity" of gas is absorbed, said Luizao, with the National Institute for Research on the Amazon (INPA).
But destruction of the forests, largely through ôslash and burn" agriculture, produces between 200 and 300 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year, said Carlos Nobre, another LBA conference organiser.
That constitutes Brazil's main source of emissions of greenhouse gases that the world is seeking to reduce in order to prevent severe climate change. Other sources, like the burning of fossil fuels, produce a total of between 80 and 90 million tons per year in the country, he added.
Most of the Amazon jungle falls within Brazilian territory. Thus, if this country manages to drastically reduce the loss of trees in the Amazon region -- the losses amounted to 25,000 sq km of jungle last year -- local forests would "provide an even greater service" to the global climate with their net absorption of carbon dioxide, stressed Luizao.
That could even have financial implications for Brazil if the Kyoto Protocol on climate change goes into effect. The Protocol sets targets for cutting the greenhouse gas emissions of industrialised nations, which can be met through projects in third countries and by the creation of mechanisms like the so-called carbon market.
Another important environmental service provided by Amazonia is the "clear role of its forests as a source of water vapour," which generates rainfall in distant regions, like southern Brazil, said Luizao.
There are also signs of the jungle region's influence in areas as far away as northern Europe, but these have yet to be confirmed through the evaluation of "many factors," in research that goes beyond the ambit of the LBA, he added.
The project's studies have discovered that the recovery of burnt forests is made more difficult by the lack of nitrogen, which goes up in smoke, not the lack of phosphorous as was previously thought. This knowledge will help guide reforestation efforts, encouraging the use of nitrogen fertilisers.
But the surprises mentioned by Luizao are not only those found in the conclusions of the various research projects to be presented at next week's conference, nor the results that will emerge in the next two years of the LBA.
In 2006, the programme will complete "a first phase of intense data collection," but the funding is already in place for two more years, which will be dedicated to analysis of the information and the integration of many parallel studies. The LBA Experiment is made up of 120 projects, 61 of which are already complete.
The combination of such a great body of accumulated information should pave the way for many discoveries and surprises to come, and "the gold can then be mined", said the researcher.
The LBA has given rise to knowledge on the complexity of the Amazonia region, while also providing opportunities for 400 researchers to work on postgraduate studies in the area. "This is the best gain for the region," in Luizao's view.
In Brazil's Amazon jungle region there are an estimated 1,000 professionals with doctorate degrees, but 10,000 more are needed to reach the "modest, and still not ideal" average of the rest of this country of nearly 180 million people, he stated.
LBA research also makes an unparalleled contribution to the design of development policies for Amazonia, which is home to 24 million people, spread over the eight countries that share the jungle region.
Because of this, the programme coordinators are meeting Friday and Saturday in Brasilia with government officials and representatives of other institutions to present a summary of the results of the LBA research.
LBA studies are broad and varied. On the one hand, they shed light on the natural ecosystem in the region, its role with regards to the climate, and the effects caused by changes, showing "what must not be done," explained Luizao.
On the other hand, there are specific studies, such as on the impact of selective logging or alternative land use, he added.
Now we have to translate the scientific conclusions for the "users," those people who must make the most of them in orienting the design of public policies, he concluded.
Copyright 2004, IPS
CONTENT COPYRIGHT IPS. THIS CONTENT IS INTENDED SOLELY FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES.
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