"The Amazonian rainforest has lost much of its ability to absorb climate-altering greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, scientists reported on Wednesday.

In the 1990s, the great forest was able to store as much as two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) each year, they said.

Now, though, the uptake has halved, and for the first time is being outstripped by fossil-fuel emissions from Latin America.

The evidence, reported in the journal Nature, comes from a 30-year survey that brought together nearly a hundred researchers working in eight countries."

AFP had the story March 18, 2015. [2]