The Amazônia and the global climate

Abstract

The Amazonia, the largest river basin of the world covered mostly with natural rainforest, is a fast changing environment. Only during the dry season of 1987, 20 million hectares of land were burnt of which 40% were estimated to be natural forests. Changing the land use from forests to other types, such pasture or agricultural fields, may interfere with the global climate besides altering drastically the local environment. First, because the Amazônia is an important heat source for the general circulation of the atmosphere and second because the forest plays significant role in the chemical composition of the atmosphere and in the greenhouse effect. This paper attempts to demonstrate this fact using the evidence available presently.