The day: Rainforest in Brazil secretly damaged for years

A deforested piece of forest in the Amazon rainforest is easier to spot than a change in use.

(Photo: picture alliance / dpa)

Cutting down trees has been destroying large areas in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest for years. But researchers show another, equally harmful, but often overlooked problem: Von From 1992 to 2014 more areas were converted than cleared. During this period, this change of use alone – such as the felling of individual tree species or the burning of vegetation under the canopy – was one Area almost the size of Germany has been lost, write researchers led by Eraldo Matricardi from the University of Brasília in the magazine "Science".

While deforestation means the complete conversion of the rainforest into another type of land – above all pastureland – conversion takes place within the forests under the compact canopy and is characterized by the loss of biomass. Generally one is Re-use harder to capture than deforestation, because the burning down of low vegetation or the cutting down of certain species can hardly be seen under a canopy of leaves. The researchers had now specifically evaluated satellite images of the Amazon region in Brazil. This conversion is one – compared to deforestation – often overlooked, permanent damage of the rainforest, the authors emphasize. It also contributes to climate change and species extinction, among other things.