Climate change a big threat to Amazon

CLIMATE change could speed up large-scale destruction of the Amazon rainforest, conservationists warned yesterday.

Some 55% of the region’s forests are under threat from destruction or severe damage by 2030, as a result of agriculture and livestock expansion, fire, drought and logging, according to a report by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund).

The damage could release between 55.5 billion and 96.9bn tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere from the Amazon forests and speed up global warming, the WWF warned.