Rather than the enemy, in the war against climate change we are attacking our most important allies: the oceans and the Amazon. The former absorb much of the excess heat present on Earth, while the latter produces rain and oxygen by absorbing carbon dioxide. We, however, are damaging these ecosystems and, as we know, organisms that are not healthy cannot perform their functions.

This is an emergency. This is not a joke.

Leila Salazar-López, executive director of Amazon Watch

This is what is happening to the Amazon rainforest: the eastern region, especially the south-eastern part, has begun to emit more CO2 than oxygen.

What is happening in the Amazon

This was revealed by a study published in the journal Nature by an international group of scientists, many of them Brazilian, who examined four sites over the period between 2010 and 2018. The researchers believe this is due to the fact that, over the past forty years, the eastern Amazon has been subject to a higher rate of deforestation, higher temperatures combined with more frequent periods of drought, especially during the dry season.

"When the forest is degraded and subject to the impact of deforestation, the trees effectively reduce their capacity for net CO2 absorption — they are less efficient at absorbing CO2, simply because they are weaker, because they die sooner," explains Isabella Pratesi, conservation director at Wwf Italia. "What drives the balance so high, however, are the emissions from fires. We know that when forests are burned, they release high quantities of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide."

Alongside the climate crisis and logging — which has been incentivised since the election of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil to make way for agribusiness and extractive activities — another major source of stress on the Amazon is what is known as forest degradation. Another study published in Nature Climate Change has highlighted the importance of AGB (aboveground biomass): this is all the biomass present in vegetation, both woody and herbaceous, found above the ground, and includes stems, stumps, branches, bark, seeds and foliage. This collection of organisms is a carbon pool — a "reservoir" of carbon, meaning a component of the ecosystem capable of absorbing or releasing carbon dioxide — that can be seen with the naked eye, and any change within it can negatively affect its functions.

It is as if the great tropical forests, the Amazon and the Congo Basin, were two ventricles of the same heart, pumping in alternation.

Isabella Pratesi, conservation director, Wwf Italia

When an ecosystem is degraded, these precious elements are lost. But that is not all. "We speak of forest degradation when human activities enter the forest and gradually begin to strip it of biodiversity," Pratesi continues. "The forest is not made up of trees alone: it is an incredibly rich system in which animals also play an extraordinary role. So a forest that begins to lose its animals loses a crucial element for its own regeneration and is gradually destined to degrade, to become more prone to fires, to emit more CO2."

"This does not mean the Amazon is lost"

As mentioned at the outset, we cannot afford to see the glass as half empty. Scientists predict that the forest could reach its tipping point, the point of no return, by 2025. We have a window, however small. "We must protect those parts of the Amazon that have not yet reached the tipping point," explains Leila Salazar-López, executive director of Amazon Watch. "The best way to achieve this is to ensure that indigenous rights are respected. What we must do is protect 80 per cent of the Amazon by 2025." Precisely because the time window is narrow, now is the moment to act immediately and swiftly, setting stringent targets: zero deforestation, zero emissions. Which is different from net zero emissions.

Continuing to extract oil and other fossil fuels is not sustainable. A transition in energy and economic models is necessary. Amazon Watch on the one hand supports indigenous peoples, and on the other holds to account those responsible for extractive activities, including governments, companies and banks. "BlackRock, the world's largest investment firm, is one of the main funders of the exploitation of the Amazon and is at the centre of a campaign we have called BlackRock's Big Problem. They are financing the climate crisis. We are pushing them to change their policies."

We must restore ecosystems, reforest, invest in the solutions offered by indigenous peoples, in their conservation projects: they have shown they are capable of protecting their lands. We must develop a model of development that is in harmony with the forest.

When you are losing blood, your first thought is to stop the bleeding. That is what we must do.

Leila Salazar-López, executive director of Amazon Watch

The European Union is advancing — and we must ensure that all countries support it — a law to halt the importation of deforestation. Much of the destruction of forests, not only the Amazon, is due to our consumption. We "import," Italy in particular, an enormous amount of deforestation because we consume food products that cause it.

The climate crisis concerns all of us. What you can do

"If we want to choose one action above all that can help protect forests, we must stop our consumption of meat, especially that coming from intensive farming," Isabella Pratesi continues. "Meat from intensive farming requires an enormous amount of soya. And the soya that is imported into Italy comes from intensive crops in South America."

What is happening to the Amazon, the fires in California and in Sardinia, the floods in Germany, the Netherlands, China, India and Nigeria are showing us that, in the fight against climate change, we are all united. We are citizens of the world and we are unanimously struck by the great crises, such as the climate crisis and the health crisis. We are all suffering the consequences, in various ways.

For this reason too, says Salazar-López, the first thing we can do is let indigenous peoples know that we are on their side. "Two years ago we organised a global day of action for the Amazon: students, activists, community associations and NGOs took part all over the world. This year at the beginning of September we will hold an entire week. Wherever you are, you can take part. Alternatively, one can join the climate strikes organised by young people."

We still have time, but not much of it remains. Let's avoid wasting it. We have the scientists' data, and the indigenous peoples' solutions. It's time to join the dots.