NASA-funded study: Amazon rainforest may become grassland

NASA says Amazonian drought could accelerate global climate change | AHN

A NASA-funded study says droughts in the Amazon rainforest have reduced its "greenness," and is seen as an effect of negative climate change in the region. With continued deterioration, experts say the region could transition from a rainforest to a woody savanna or even simple grassland.

2009: New Jungles Prompt a Debate on Rain Forests - NYTimes.com

By one estimate, for every acre of rain forest cut down each year, more than 50 acres of new forest are growing in the tropics on land that was once farmed, logged or ravaged by natural disaster.

“There is far more forest here than there was 30 years ago,” said Ms. Ortega de Wing, 64, who remembers fields of mango trees and banana plants.