An increase in fires in the Brazilian Amazon threatens to cancel out some of the carbon dioxide reductions achieved through UN forest management programs, according to a new study. An analysis of satellite data by the University of Exeter showed that fires have increased by 59 percent in areas that have experienced reduced deforestation through conservation efforts, including the UN program known as REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), according to the study published in the journal Science. The fires rarely occur naturally, but are typically the result of “slash and burn” methods used by Brazilian farmers to create new fields from forests or clear new growth from fields. The extra carbon produced when those fires spread to surrounding forests is not taken into account by the REDD framework. The researchers say that the benefits of deforestation will be partially negated if fire-free land management is not incorporated into the REDD program.
Fires in Brazilian Amazon Set Back Forest Conservation Efforts
More From E360
-
INTERVIEW
How One South African Community Stopped Shell Oil in Its Tracks
-
ANALYSIS
Will New Leader End Progress in Saving Indonesia’s Forests?
-
Oceans
Dire Straits: Can a Fishing Ban Save the Elusive European Eel?
-
Climate
Scientists Are Trying to Coax the Ocean to Absorb More CO2
-
INTERVIEW
Marina Silva on Brazil’s Fight to Turn the Tide on Deforestation
-
Solutions
Solomon Islands Tribes Sell Carbon Credits, Not Their Trees
-
INTERVIEW
With Sea Turtles in Peril, a Call for New Strategies to Save Them
-
RIVERS
Jared Kushner Has Big Plans for Delta of Europe’s Last Wild River
-
Energy
A Nuclear Power Revival Is Sparking a Surge in Uranium Mining
-
OPINION
Despite Official Vote, the Evidence of the Anthropocene Is Clear
-
INTERVIEW
At 11,500 Feet, a ‘Climate Fast’ to Save the Melting Himalaya
-
Oceans
Octopuses Are Highly Intelligent. Should They Be Farmed for Food?