ABSTRACT
Deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia releases quantities of greenhouse gases that are significant both in terms of their present impact and in terms of the implied potential for long-term contribution to global warming from continued clearing of Brazil’s vast area of remaining forest. Net committed emissions are calculated as the difference between the carbon stocks in the forest and the equilibrium replacement landcover, with trace gas fluxes estimated based on fractions of the biomass that burn or decompose following different pathways. Greenhouse gas emissions and uptakes are tabulated for a net committed emissions calculation in a “low trace gas scenario” and a “high trace gas scenario”. One of the impacts of hydroelectric dams in Amazonia is emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. Any policy changes that reduce the rate of deforestation would have the greatest potential for reducing the net emission of greenhouse gases from Amazonia.
