Africa’s forests were once among the world’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing roughly 20% of all the carbon dioxide captured by plants. For centuries, the continent’s rainforests and woodlands helped regulate the planet’s climate, acting as a vital buffer against global warming.
However, deforestation, logging, and other land-use changes in Africa have reversed this effect. In fact, according to a new study led by researchers from the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield and Edinburgh in the UK, Africa’s forests have shifted from a carbon sink to a carbon source.
Using more than a decade of satellite observations and machine-learning analysis, researchers tracked changes in aboveground forest biomass (the amount of carbon stored in trees and woody vegetation). They found that while Africa gained carbon between 2007 and 2010, widespread forest loss in tropical rainforests has since tipped the scales.
Between 2010 and 2017, Africa lost approximately 117 million tons of forest biomass each year. The research, which was recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, found that the losses are concentrated in tropical moist broadleaf forests. Gains in savanna regions, where shrubs and small trees are expanding, are too small to offset these losses.
These findings arrive on the heels of the COP30 climate summit in Brazil, where global leaders highlighted the urgent need to protect tropical forests.
Without rapid action to halt forest loss, the world risks losing one of its most important natural buffers against climate change.
