Deforestation in Africa May Affect Climate

Deforestation throughout areas of Africa could be reversed with changes to land use, according to a recent study.

This is due to a strategic approach to managing trees across the continent that could have made a positive impact on the changing climate, according to researchers.

Deforestation in south-central Africa has caused an increasing demand for trees to be used for agriculture and fuel.

Researchers believe that the loss of forests threatens the ecosystem and the livelihood of populations. Scientists suggest that the situation could be alleviated by using sustainable fuel instead of charcoal and ending the practice of burning forests to support agriculture and livestock.

Loss of trees could make a great impact on climate change, as forest store carbon in their stems and branches, which helps them to reduce the amount of harmful carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere. Tracking changes in woodland across the continent may help scientists to more easily understand their effect on weather patterns and potentially improve predictions of global climate change.

A press release notes that researchers identified a north-south divide throughout the forests and woodlands in the south. Areas most greatly affect by the problem tended to be the Democratic Republic of Congo, Angola, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Mozambique.

Researchers believe fewer fires resulted in the north with higher rates of urbanization. They also analyzed studies of tree cover in African savannas, combining this with a 25 year record from satellite data.

"Land use in Africa influences how much its forests can grow - and their capacity for absorbing carbon emissions," said Dr. Ed Mitchard, of the University of Edinburgh's School of GeoSciences, who led the study, via a press release. "If humans reduce burning and cutting forests and savannas these will grow and help to limit the impact of carbon emissions, but instead in many places people are impacting more on woodlands and forests, adding to carbon emissions."

More information regarding the study can be found in the Philosophical Transactions of Royal Society B.