THE FUTURE OF THE AMAZON

From current observations of changes in climate, it is almost certain that if deforestation continues, global temperature will continue to increase. Mongabay.com says that deforestation is expected to cause warmer and drier conditions overall and all this damage will “reduce the resistance of the rainforest ecosystem to natural and human-caused stressors while increasing the frequency of extreme rainfall events and droughts by the end of this century” (Mongabay.com).

The Amazon stores atmospheric carbon as vegetation grows, which benefits the environment, but when forests are cleared or burned, the carbon is released into the environment in the harmful form of carbon dioxide, (Mongabay.com) which can only get worst for our atmosphere if deforestation continues. This along with the land heating up rapidly (another effect of deforestation), will almost certainly cause the earth’s climate to continue to gradually go up. Mongabay.com also predicts that deforestation will eventually diminish the Amazon rainforest (Mongabay.com). 

The following image is a projection of what the Amazon will look like if deforestation continues at its current rate. The green areas are what's left of the forest, while the other colors represent parts of the forests that are either non forest areas or predicted to be deforested, dried or logged by 2030: 

http://photos.mongabay.com/08/0123scenarios.jpg

Also, here's an interesting chart depicting the severe decrease in rainfall that would occur along with a high increase in temperature if current Amazon conditions continue. According to Mongabay.com, climate models predict temperatures in the Amazon to increase between two and nine degrees Celsius by the end of the century. This chart illustrates projections for 2080:

http://photos.mongabay.com/11/0520chart.jpg

The left side of the chart shows potential temperature increases for 2080. The right side shows the drop in percentage of rainfall each temperature increase would cause.

Such changes in climate would make for more extreme droughts and flooding than those currently occurring. These changes would also place large struggles on inhabitants and endanger many. Already, the 2005 drought greatly reduced the fish population (Mongabay.com). Rainfall changes will also have harmful affects on humans, such as causing sickness and disease, as did the 2009 flood, which caused thousands to move from their homes and also led to serious health issues related to water-borne disease (Mongabay.com).

source: 
http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0520-amazon_climate_moukaddem.html?utm_campaign=General+news&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_source=SNS.analytics