Amazon Drought Could Devastate Forest

Amazon rainforest 'could become a desert' And that could speed up global warming with 'incalculable consequences', says alarming new research By Geoffrey Lean in Manaus and Fred Pearce Published: 23 July 2006 The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year. Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years of drought without breaking down. Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable. Read More At: The Independent Online