Deforestation in Amazonia: Dynamics, impacts and control

Abstract

Deforestation in Amazonia proceeds at a rapid rate for various reasons, many of which depend on government decisions. Deforestation causes losses of environmental services that are more valuable than the short-lived uses that replace the forest. These services include maintenance of biodiversity, of water cycling and of the stocks of carbon that avoid further intensification of the greenhouse effect. Feedbacks between climatic changes and the forest through such processes as forest fires, tree mortality from drought and heat and the release of carbon stocks in the soil represent dangers for the climate, the forest and the Brazilian population. Recent events indicate that deforestation can be controlled, given the political will, because the underlying processes depend on human decisions.