The Amazon: Why it matters to our climate - The Climate Question podcast, BBC World Service

The Amazon has often been called ‘the lungs of the planet’ – but is it now struggling to breathe? Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM In this episode of The Climate Question, Graihagh Jackson and Jordan Dunbar meet Dr Erika Berenguer, an ecologist from the University of Oxford, to find out how the world’s largest rainforest is changing. They discover why the Amazon is vital for global climate stability; storing billions of tonnes of carbon, creating rain vital to the whole of South America, and keeping the continent’s weather in balance. But it’s also changing fast: deforestation, fires and rising temperatures are pushing parts of it towards a dangerous tipping point. Erika explains why the Amazon has such a huge variety of plants and animals, how fires spread in a place that should never burn, and what the loss of a single giant tree can tell us about the fate of an entire ecosystem. Have you got a question for us? Let us know in the comments 👇 00:00 Intro: Why the Amazon matters 01:00 The forest’s weird and wonderful creatures 04:00 How biodiversity keeps us healthy and happy 08:00 Carbon giants: How trees slow climate change 09:50 The forest that makes its own rain 11:50 Why fires are spreading in a place that shouldn’t burn 15:40 Losing a favourite tree: the emotional cost of research 18:30 The tipping point: from carbon sink to carbon source? 22:45 What could save the Amazon? Watch more episodes of The Climate Question on our playlist 👉🏽    • The Climate Question   ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   Twitter 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   Facebook 👉🏽   / bbcworldservice   BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #worldservice #AmazonRainforest #ClimateChange #BBCWorldService #TheClimateQuestion #Deforestation #DrErikaBerenguer #Brazil #Wildlife #Nature #Science