How “Amazonian Dark Earth” Could Help Protect and Restore Brazil’s Rainforests

Watch How “Amazonian Dark Earth” Could Help Protect and Restore Brazil’s Rainforests - Amaze Lab on Dailymotion

Transcript

00:00the amazon rainforest is in trouble according to earth.com 1539 square miles of it or an area

00:11around five times the size of new york city was deforested in 2022 alone so how do we preserve

00:17it for the future well according to scientists looking into the past may hold the key a joint

00:21project by brazilian research organizations found that more than two millennia ago native amerindians

00:27fertilize the land with man-made compost bone charcoal and manure the nutrient-rich substance

00:32is called amazonian dark earth or ade and it can still be found in the area today in a lab scientists

00:38tested just how good at growing plant life ade is finding that in an experiment where just 20 percent

00:44of the substance was used in a soil mixture plants grew 3.4 times thicker than a normal soil and an

00:49experiment where plants were grown in 100 percent ade soil they grew eight times thicker with

00:54researchers finding that trees grew three to six times taller if amazonian dark earth was in their

01:00surrounding soil the researchers say this magnesium zinc phosphorus and calcium rich soil can help a

01:05deforested area return to lush rainforest the problem is it can take thousands of years to accumulate on

01:10its own however they say if humankind could make an analog of it once again specifically capturing its

01:16bevy of plant encouraging microorganisms we just might be able to undo some of the damage done to

01:21one of our planet's most important natural wonders