Environmental News Network - Two-Thirds of Tropical Forests ‘Under Threat in Next Decade’

Details: By SciDev.Net; 29.May

Tropical forests can develop resistance o a warmer climate, but 71 per cent will come under threat in the next decade if global average temperatures reach two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a new study warns.

Julie Swatson

Tropical forests can develop resistance o a warmer climate, but 71 per cent will come under threat in the next decade if global average temperatures reach two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a new study warns.

Forest-dependent communities and the global climate will be affected if tropical forests are further degraded, experts say.

Led by scientists at the University of Leeds and published in Science, the study involved 226 researchers from around the world. The cohort analysed carbon stock data in 590 permanent forest plots in South America, Africa, Asia and Australia, with most in the Amazon region.

The Amazon rainforest acts as a huge carbon sink, absorbing and storing carbon dioxide (CO2) and helping to cool global temperatures. Even under high temperatures, trees remove CO2 — a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming — from the atmosphere.

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Two-Thirds of Tropical Forests ‘Under Threat in Next Decade’