Previous evaluations on how much the world’s lost tropical forests emit carbon emissions have been under-reported, as it never took into account the longer-term effects of tree ruin.
The carbon impact from forests that were destroyed or degraded from 2000 to 2013 was re-evaluated in an international study, adding up to 121 million acres, roughly the size of Thailand. Those ‘intact forests’ that were destroyed release six times the amount of carbon than previously estimated when additional foreseen emissions are included.
What are intact forests? They are large areas of a continuous forest without intensive human activity, such as logging or agriculture. “Once you’ve caused the initial round of damage, you have committed to a lot of further emissions in the future once the forest has opened up,” explained Tom Evans, co-author of the study.
In 2018, tropical forests lost 12 million hectares of tree cover, which, according to forest monitoring service Global Forest Watch, is the fourth-largest annual loss since 2001. When trees are cut, burned, or rotting, they release all of their stored carbon dioxides into the atmosphere. Environmentalists say there are many benefits to restoring damaged forests and protecting existing ones, including protecting biodiversity, preventing floods, and limiting climate change.
While previous research focused on stored carbon losses associated with deforestation, the new study, published in the journal Science Advances, also took into account the domino and future effects. Some of these include logging and an increase in hunting that limits seeds from spreading around naturally and delays forest from rejuvenating.
The world had around 549 million hectares of ‘intact tropical forests’ in 2013. Evans stressed the importance of ensuring the future of these forests with increased efforts and policies to keep them safe, and that should be a priority. Some of these policies should include bans to the expansion of mining, agriculture, infrastructure, and fossil fuel extraction.
Sean Maxwell, the study’s lead author, said:
Our results revealed that the continued destruction of intact tropical forests is a ticking time bomb for carbon emissions. There is an urgent need to safeguard these landscapes because they play an indispensable role in stabilizing the climate.
In another study, published in Science, researchers from Boston University and the WHRC, found that tropical forests emit more carbon to the atmosphere than they take in. As the forests quickly lose their ability to absorb carbon, experts worry that a significant carbon sink will turn into a carbon source.
Tropical forests currently emit up to 862 tera-grams of carbon, while only 437 tera-grams are absorbed. Of these emissions, over 60% comes from Latin America, 24% from Africa, and 16% from Asia. However, the researchers claim that ending degradation and deforestation in the tropics could lessen global carbon emissions by 8%.
Dr. Alessandro Baccini, who led the study, warned:
These findings provide the world with a wake-up call on forests. If we’re to keep global temperatures from rising to dangerous levels, we need to drastically reduce emissions and greatly increase forests’ ability to absorb and store carbon.
We have to cut emissions, put an end to deforestation and we have to start protecting our forests before we have nothing left to preserve.
