Reducing Tropical Forest Destruction Could Cut CO2 Emissions by One-Fifth

Want to help cut carbon emissions and prevent climate change? Then try saving some trees. Scientists have found that reducing deforestation in the tropics would significantly cut the amount of carbon dioxide entering the Earth's atmosphere--by as much as one-fifth.

Tropical forests play a large role in the Earth's climate. They act as carbon storage, keeping our Earth cooler as they take away greenhouse gas emissions from the Earth's atmosphere. That's why scientists calculated the amount of carbon absorbed by the world's tropical forests in addition to the amounts of greenhouse gas emissions created by tree loss as a result of human activity.

So what did they find? IT turns out that tropical forests absorb almost two billion tons of carbon each year. That's equivalent to one-fifth of the world's carbon emissions. Yet an equivalent amount is lost through logging, clearing of land for grazing and growing biofuel crops such as palm oil, soya bean and sugar. In addition, peat fires in the forests add significantly to gas emissions.

That's not all that they found. Carbon emissions from tropical forests will increase as the climate warms and as rising temperatures accelerate the decay of dead plants and trees. This will cause them to release more CO2. Since global temperatures are expected to rise by two degrees by the year 2099, this could increase annual carbon emissions from the forest by three-quarters of a billion tons.

"If we limit human activity in the tropical forests of the world, this could play a valuable role in helping to curb the rise in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere," said John Grace, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Preventing further losses of carbon from our tropical forests must remain a high priority."

The findings are published in the journal Global Change Biology.