Why has the Amazon, the “Earth’s lung,” become a major source of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, particularly between 2008 and 2012?

EarthzineEarth Observation, Original, St. George’s School poster project

SGS Earth Observation project Ecosystems theme poster

Abstract
Greenhouse gases have increased considerably in the Amazon over the last decade. During this time, Brazil has become the fourth-largest producer of greenhouse gas emissions. In this research, we focused on the time between 2008 and 2011 to explore the reasons for this increase, but discovered that it was more suitable to explain and expose topics that cause this effect over the Amazon forest, which are deforestation and biomass (based on the investigation of Dr. Richard Houghton).
With the information gathered, we were able to talk about the destruction of the ecosystem (involving risks to plants, animals and humans) which will affect not only the countries bordering the Amazon, but the entire planet (taking the Amazon rainforest into account as the “world’s lung”). Thus, we are also able to establish an objective and proposals.
Nevertheless, after gathering information of actual policies and campaigns in Brazil (an involved country in the fight against Amazon extinction) and proposing a global call for international help, we determine the usage of satellite information (mainly by the Ibuki satellite, which provides images of greenhouse gases and deforestation every 100 hours) as essential to our needs.
SGS Earth Observation project Ecosystems theme poster
Students
• Cesar Anzola
• Valentina Cardoso
• Daniela Andrea Cruz
• Camilo Alberto Echeverry
• Friedrich Stefan Kling
• Sergio Monroy
• Andrés Felipe Nieto
Teachers
• Nelson Robby, Physics Teacher
• Hans Simons, Biology Teacher
• Daniel Nieto, Chemistry Teacher
• Annie Dye, Project Coordinator