The introduction of payments for environmental services (PES) offers an opportunity for traditional and indigenous populations to be compensated for contributing to carbon sequestration in meeting the challenge of ameliorating global warming. As one mechanism among several for promoting biodiversity conservation and sustainable development, pro-poor PES initiatives could eventually be incorporated into an international post-Koyoto framework to encourage reduced emissions from deforestation.

Some coupled land

Protected area systems and conservation corridors can help mitigate the impacts of climate change on Amazonian biodiversity. We propose conservation design criteria that will help species survive in situ or adjust range distributions in response to increased drought. The first priority is to protect the western Amazon, identified as the

Loss of large areas of Amazonian forest, through either direct human impact or climate change, could exert a number of influences on the regional and global climates. In the Met Office Hadley Centre coupled climate

Observations show that the standard precipitation index (SPI ) over the southern Amazon region decreased in the period of 1970

To demonstrate the relationship between Amazonian vegetation and surface water dynamics, specifically, the recycling of water via evapotranspiration (ET), we compare two general circulation model experiments; one that couples the IS92a scenario of future CO2 emissions to a land-surface scheme with dynamic vegetation (coupled) and the other to fixed vegetation (uncoupled).

Interannual variations in CO2 exchange across Amazonia, as deduced from atmospheric inversions, correlate with El Nino occurrence. They are thought to result from changes in net ecosystemexchange and fire incidence that are both related to drought intensity. Alterations to net ecosystemproduction (NEP) are caused by changes in gross primary production (GPP) and ecosystemrespiration (Reco ).

The Amazon Basin experiences severe droughts that may become more common in the future. Little is known of the effects of such droughts on Amazon forest productivity and carbon allocation. We tested the prediction that severe drought decreases litterfall and wood production but potentially has multiple cancelling effects on belowground production within a 7-year partial throughfall exclusion experiment. We simulated an approximately 35

This paper uses a palaeoecological approach to examine the impact of drier climatic conditions of the Early

Long-term monitoring of distributed, multiple plots is the key to quantify macroecological patterns and changes. Here we examine the evidence for concerted changes in the structure, dynamics and composition of old-growth Amazonian forests in the late twentieth century. In the 1980s and 1990s, mature forests gained biomass and underwent accelerated growth and dynamics, all consistent with a widespread, long-acting stimulation of growth. Because growth on average exceeded mortality, intact Amazonian forests have been a carbon sink.