Synergistic effects of climate change and land use on carbon source and sink of Amazon forest ecosystem

Abstract

The Amazon Basin, centered in Brazil, has the largest tropical rainforest on Earth, storing about 15% of the total global biomass carbon pool. The Amazon forests remove 0.4 Pg C y-1 from the atmosphere, about 4% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions each year. Evapotranspiration by the Amazon forest provides a steady flow of water vapor to the atmosphere, acting as a major water vapor source in continental scale. Therefore, the Amazon rainforest plays a key role in the regional and global climate system by regulating the carbon cycle and atmospheric moisture circulation. However, driven by human activities and climate change, the continuous reduction of Amazon rainforest not only threatens the sustainable development of the region, but also may exacerbate the global climate crisis, which challenges the climate change mitigation goal under the Paris Agreement. Here, we propose to utilize remote sensing data and ground observations, with the application of multiscale Earth system and geospatial information models aiming to (1) Explore the climate feedbacks of land use and its contribution to climate extremes in Amazonia; (2) Estimate carbon source and sink, and investigate the climate and land use processes that control carbon fluxes in Amazonia; and (3) Project future changes in carbon source and sink of rainforest ecosystem under different climate change and land use scenarios in the future, and propose possible pathways and adaptation strategies to address climate change and protect rainforest through sustainable land use and management. This research is jointly proposed by the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of São Paulo, Brazil. Both teams have their own advantages and complementarity, and they have solid research background on climate change, land use change, ecosystem carbon cycle. The research teams have necessary field observation and research networks in the study area, which can provide solid data, theory and technical support for the implementation of this collaborative research. This research will provide scientific support for policymaking and achievement of sustainable use and management of tropical forest ecosystems (SDG15) and actions taken to combat climate change (SDG13) in the framework of United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG). (AU)