MANAUS, Brazil – Studies presented by leading world scientists forecast dire consequences for the Caribbean and southern American regions if deforestation of the Amazon is not halted, said the head of a development agency.
Traveling with leading scientists, religious leaders and politicians in the Amazon waterways, Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, said continued massive cutting of the rainforest will disrupt the flow of warm air in the atmosphere, leading to increased hurricane activity in the Caribbean and the Gulf states of America and Mexico.
LeLaulu said the description of the Amazon as “the lungs of the planet” may not be totally accurate as the region re-absorbs some 80-percent of the oxygen it generates.
“Climate scientists, however, have compiled studies which conclude the vast Amazonia is more the “heart of the planet” for its role in pumping moisture and rain to South America and beyond,” asserts LeLaulu.
“Basically, the scientists are telling us forest destruction of the Amazon leads to a failure of forest transpiration, the forest pumps, leaving heat in the southern north Atlantic which in turn gives birth to more extreme hurricanes in the Caribbean,” he cautioned. It also means the bread baskets of southern Brazil and Argentina could be turned to desert without the rain generated by the Amazon, he added.
Quoting from submissions made by top Brazilian scientists and their colleagues from the leading European and American academies of science to a high-level meeting on the Amazon, LeLaulu asserted, “we are now able to explain why the sea temperature of the southern north Atlantic has been rising, giving birth to more extreme hurricanes which ravage the Caribbean and North America.”
Tom Spencer, vice chairman of the Institute for Environmental Security in the Hague, said this is the missing link and holds out the possibility of a new deal in the international climate negotiations such as the Kyoto Protocol. “The scientists are telling us we are running out of time as the forests struggle to survive. We in the political sphere have to approach international meetings such as the upcoming United Nations climate conference in Nairobi this November with a new sense of urgency,” said Spencer former head of the British Conservative Party at the European Parliament.
Since 1995, Religion, Science and the Environment series (RSE) has convened five symposia to study the fate of the world’s main bodies of water, which cover seven-tenths of the earth’s surface. These assemblies of scientists, environmentalists, policy-makers and representatives of the world’s main religious faiths have established an environmental ethics movement, and have drawn global attention to the degradation of the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Danube River, the Adriatic Sea, and the Baltic Sea.
RSE is committed to promoting awareness of the world’s rivers and seas and to building capacities for environmental improvement. Last weekend, the sixth symposium sailed through the waterways of the world’s largest forests, flanked by nine countries, looking at the Amazon as “the source of life”.
RSE’s programmes aim to raise awareness of the plight of the world’s waters; to strengthen local capacities for environmental protection; to initiate schemes or institutions for environmental cooperation and education; and to catalyse projects that will benefit targeted water bodies. The organization’s strategies are animated by a core belief that the analytical tools of science and the spiritual messages of religion must work in harmony if the earth’s environment is to be safeguarded against further degradation.
For 41 years, Counterpart International has given people a voice in their own future through smart partnerships, offering options and access to tools for sustained social, economic and environmental development.
