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Wildfires could flip parts of the Amazon from a carbon sponge to a source by 2050

Curbing new deforestation could help avoid the alarming tipping point, simulations suggest

Amazon fire

Deforestation, along with greenhouse gas-caused climate change, could double the burned area of the southern Brazilian Amazon forest by 2050. Future fires could help turn the region from a carbon sponge to a source.

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By Carolyn Gramling

- More than 2 years ago

A double whammy of climate change and deforestation could double the area burned by wildfires in the southern Brazilian Amazon forest, simulations suggest.