Amazon rainforest ‘on brink of destruction’

THE AMAZON rainforest is now ‘alarmingly close’ to dying by 2030 due to climate change and forest loss, a report warns.

The world’s largest rainforest is close to a ‘tipping point’ that could mean it changes forever, no longer benefiting humanity by soaking up greenhouse gases, the WWF report says.

It came as Brazil’s presidentelect Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, attended the UN climate summit Cop27 in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Speaking to a cheering crowd, he pledged to ‘undertake a big fight against deforestation’.

The former president beat the incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in last month’s elections and will assume power on January 1.

Deforestation in the Amazon reached a record high this year. Under Mr Bolsonaro, illegal logging increased to the highest levels in 15 years.

Speaking about the WWF Risking The Amazon paper, lead author Professor Mary Gagen said: ‘We could lose the Amazon to a state of permanent, irreversible degradation that would impact the entire planet... the evidence gives a stark warning.’