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2007-11-29
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Climate change, deforestation and the fate of the Amazon rainforest
PRNewswire-GNN London 29 November
Editor's Note:
For further information contact Met Office Press Office +44 (0)1392 886655
Notes to editors:
* The Met Office is the UK's National Weather Service, providing 24x7
world-renowned scientific excellence in weather, climate change and
environmental forecasts and severe weather warnings for the protection of
life and property.
* The Met Office Hadley Centre is the UK's official centre for climate
change research. Partly funded by Defra (the Department for Environment,
Food and Rural Affairs) and the Ministry of Defence.
* There will be a 'Forests Day' side event at COP13 on Saturday 8 Dec 2007.
* Richard Betts will speak at two separate side events:
Biodiversity-climate interactions: adaptation, mitigation and human livelihoods
Thursday 6 December 2007
Climate research at the Met Office Hadley Centre: new science to inform
policy Tuesday 11 Dec 2007
* Yadvinder Malhi will speak at a side event on Friday 7 December 2007
How can we get more GHG emissions out of the atmosphere and contribute to
sustainable development?
Met Office
London, 29 November /PRNewswire-GNN/ --
MET OFFICE News Release issued by The Government News Network on 29
November 2007
PLEASE NOTE EMBARGO
Not for publication or broadcast before
1800 hours Thursday 29 Nov 2007
The Amazon rainforest is a crucial component of the Earth's system; one which
faces the dual threats of climate change and deforestation. Now, scientists
across a number of disciplines have joined together to assess these threats
with their findings published today (Thursday) in Science. Climatologists,
sociologists and ecologists have worked to explore the consequences for the
forest ecosystem and its human population and outline future options.
The work, led by Prof. Yadvinder Malhi of Oxford University Centre for the
Environment, looks at the consequences for the rainforest from every angle,
focusing not just on how climate change may degrade the forest and the likely
impacts of deforestation on regional and global climate, but also on the
balance between human pressures and forest resilience.
The scientists also offer a range of ideas to combat climate change in
the region, ranging from well-managed clearance programmes with limited
fragmentation, through maintaining broad species migration and river corridors,
to maintaining a biological refuge by keeping intact the areas least vulnerable
to climatic drying.
The paper has added significance as the world's leading climate scientists
gather for the UN Conference of the Parties (COP13) from 3 December 2007,
where the issue of deforestation is likely to be high on the agenda. The
Met Office will participate in side events at the conference.
Met Office climate scientist, Dr Richard Betts, a joint author on the
paper, said: "The Amazon is facing threats on two fronts; climate change and
direct deforestation. Forests will be a key topic at the conference in Bali.
Reducing further deforestation could slow global warming, maintain rainfall
and conserve biodiversity."
Met Office
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