THE mighty Amazon rainforest is rapidly losing its ability to absorb carbon from the atmosphere, a major study has shown.

Since the 1990s, when two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide greenhouse gas were removed from the atmosphere each year by the forest, net uptake has halved, said scientists.

For the first time, the rate of carbon absorption by the Amazon is being overtaken by fossil fuel emissions in Latin America.

Trees dying younger as a result of soaking up too much carbon is to blame for the trend, experts believe.

Lead scientist Dr Roel Brienen, from the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, said: "Tree mortality rates have increased by more than a third since the mid-1980s, and this is affecting the Amazon's capacity to store carbon."

The findings are from a 30-year survey of the Amazon by an international team of almost 100 researchers - the most extensive land-based study of the forest ever conducted.

It revealed a huge surge in the rate of trees dying across the Amazon, which historically has acted as a vital "carbon sink" putting a brake on climate change.

Co-author Professor Oliver Phillips, also from the University of Leeds, said: "All across the world even intact forests are changing.

"Forests are doing us a huge favour, but we can't rely on them to solve the carbon problem. Instead, deeper cuts in emissions will be required to stabilise our climate."