Up to half of the Amazon rainforest could transform into grasslands or weakened ecosystems in the coming decades, a new study found, as climate change, deforestation and severe droughts like the one the region is currently experiencing damage huge areas beyond their ability to recover.

The regional profiles that emerged showed that a tenth of the Amazon was highly vulnerable to transforming into grasslands or degraded ecosystems with lower tree cover.

Another 47 percent of the forest has moderate potential to transform, they found, including mostly untouched areas that are more vulnerable to extreme droughts like the current one.

Recent research has shown that parts of the forest in the southeast of the Amazon that have experienced large-scale deforestation and fires have already started emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb because the rainforest there has been damaged past the point of recovery.

And, because those same trees pump huge amounts of water into the atmosphere, their loss could also disturb global rainfall patterns and temperatures in ways that aren’t well understood.

Still, said Marina Hirota, a professor at the Federal University of Santa Catarina and another author of the paper, governments shouldn’t wait for more clarity to act.

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