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Cited by 940Fire effects on ecosystemsConservation, Biodiversity, and Resource ManagementPlant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

21st Century drought-related fires counteract the decline of Amazon deforestation carbon emissions

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Aragão, Luiz E. O. C., Anderson, Liana O., Fonseca, Marisa G., Rosan, Thais M., Vedovato, Laura B., Wagner, Fabien H., Silva, Camila V. J., Silva Junior, Celso H. L. +13 more·2018·Nature Communications
DOI 10.1038/s41467-017-02771-yPMC PMC5811599
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Abstract

Tropical carbon emissions are largely derived from direct forest clearing processes. Yet, emissions from drought-induced forest fires are, usually, not included in national-level carbon emission inventories. Here we examine Brazilian Amazon drought impacts on fire incidence and associated forest fire carbon emissions over the period 2003–2015. We show that despite a 76% decline in deforestation rates over the past 13 years, fire incidence increased by 36% during the 2015 drought compared to the preceding 12 years. The 2015 drought had the largest ever ratio of active fire counts to deforestation, with active fires occurring over an area of 799,293 km 2 . Gross emissions from forest fires (989 ± 504 Tg CO 2 year −1 ) alone are more than half as great as those from old-growth forest deforestation during drought years. We conclude that carbon emission inventories intended for accounting and developing policies need to take account of substantial forest fire emissions not associated to the deforestation process.

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  • New fire regimes are burning larger forest areas, emitting more carbon to the atmosphere and forcing IPLCs to readapt.

    “As a result, new fire regimes are burning larger forest areas43, emitting more carbon to the atmosphere44 and forcing IPLCs to readapt45.”

    From Critical transitions in the Amazon forest system (2024) · cites this paper as [44]

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Authors
Aragão, L. E. O. C., Anderson, L. O., Fonseca, M. G., Rosan, T. M., Vedovato, L. B., Wagner, F. H., Silva, C. V. J., Silva Junior, C. H. L., Arai, E., Aguiar, A. P., Barlow, J., Berenguer, E., Deeter, M. N., Domingues, L. G., Gatti, L., Gloor, M., Malhi, Y., Marengo, J. A., Miller, J. B., Phillips, O. L., & Saatchi, S.
Affiliations
  • University of Exeter (GB)
  • University of Oxford (GB)
  • Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (BR)
  • Lancaster University (GB)
  • Stockholm Resilience Centre (SE)
  • NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (US)
  • Instituto de Pesquisas Energéticas e Nucleares (BR)
  • University of Leeds (GB)
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
  • Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
Corresponding author
Aragão, Luiz E. O. C.
ORCID
Venue
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Published
2018-02-13
Volume
9
Issue
1
Pages
536-536
ISSN
2041-1723 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1038/s41467-017-02771-y
PMC
PMC5811599
OpenAlex
W2792647196
Cited by
940
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 95 · 2025: 99 · 2024: 115 · 2023: 127 · 2022: 156 · 2021: 132 · 2020: 100 · 2019: 71 · 2018: 44 · 2017: 1
FWCI
48.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Nature Communications (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • LA Referencia (Red Federada de Repositorios Institucionales de Publicaciones Científicas) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • White Rose Research Online (University of Leeds, The University of Sheffield, University of York) (acceptedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • Americanae (AECID Library) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
  • Lancaster EPrints (Lancaster University) (submittedVersion)
  • NOAA Institutional Repository (submittedVersion)
  • Biblioteca Digital da Memória Científica do INPE (National Institute for Space Research) (submittedVersion)
Funders
  • National Aeronautics and Space Administration
  • European Commission (283080)
  • Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (08/58120-3, 11/51841-0, 305054/2016-3, 2015/, 15/50484-0, 2011/, 08/57719-9)
  • Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (2013‐6, 305054/2016-3, -0 and, 458022/2013-6, 573797/2008-0, 2008/57719-9)
  • Norges Forskningsråd
  • National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Natural Environment Research Council (NE/K016431/1, NE/I02982X/1, NE/K016385/1, NE/l018123/1, NE/D01025X/1, NE/B504630/1, NE/N01250X/1, NE/N012453/1, NE/M017516/1, NE/F015356/2, NE/K01644X/1, NE/F005776/1, NE/F005806/1, NE/N012542/1, NE/F005806/, NE/P001092/1)
  • Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Fire effects on ecosystems
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
Keywords
Amazon deforestation, CO2 emissions, fire emissions, carbon emission inventory, tropical carbon cycle, Brazilian Amazon

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