Wielding Machetes and Calipers, Sweat-soaked Scientists Count Carbon in Amazon Rainforest

The machete-wielding scientists ventured into the Amazon, hacking through dense jungle as the mid-morning temperature soared past 100 degrees Fahrenheit. “These are hardworking people that get their hands dirty.” HOLISTIC APPROACH The Brazilian team is just one contingent among hundreds of researchers seeking to measure carbon in the complex and environmentally crucial Amazon rainforest ecosystem, which sprawls across more than six million square kilometers in nine countries. “Every time there is deforestation, it’s a loss, an emission of greenhouse gas,” said Sanquetta, who is a member of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s top climate science authority. “Everyone wants this information,” said Alexis Bastos, project coordinator of the nonprofit Rioterra Study Center, a Brazilian organization that provides financial support and several scientists to Sanquetta’s team. Aside from Sanquetta’s team, for instance, the Amazon Forest Inventory Network with its more than 200 partner scientists is trying to standardize carbon and other measurements, garnering huge amounts of data to “quantify” the forest.