Africa’s forests transformed from carbon sink to carbon source: Why does it matter? | Explained News

The new study, ‘Loss of tropical moist broadleaf forest has turned Africa’s forests from a carbon sink into a source’, was published in the journal Scientific Reports on Friday (November 28). It was carried out by researchers based at the National Center for Earth Observation in the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield and Edinburgh.

How did Africa’s forests become a carbon source?

Historically, Africa’s forests and woody savannas played a pivotal role in the global carbon cycle, as they absorbed atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) through photosynthesis. For instance, tropical forests in Africa absorb more than one billion tonnes of CO2 each year, according to a 2023 study, published in the journal Nature.

However, the forests have now started to emit more carbon than they absorb. This has happened primarily due to human activities such as forest cover loss during agricultural and fuelwood burning and shifting cultivation. Researchers said Infrastructure projects and mining have also exacerbated the loss of vegetation and global warming, degrading the resilience of ecosystems. Wildfires have added atmospheric carbon as well.

What did the study find?

For the analysis, the researchers used satellite-derived maps of aboveground woody biomass and then reconstructed how much carbon was stored across all major forest and savanna biomes between 2007 and 2017 in the region.

The researchers found that while Africa gained carbon between 2007 and 2010, widespread forest loss in tropical rainforests has since changed this. African forests lost around 106 billion kg of biomass per year, which is equivalent to the weight of about 106 million cars, between 2010 and 2017, according to the study. The worst affected were the tropical moist broadleaf forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and parts of West Africa.

Why does this matter?

Dr Pedro Rodríguez-Veiga, the co-author of the study, in a statement, said, “If Africa’s forests turn into a lasting carbon source, global climate goals will become much harder to achieve.”

Note that the average global temperature has already increased by at least 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Several reports have said that if the world does not dramatically slash carbon emissions, the temperature could reach an estimated 2.8 degrees Celsius to 3.1 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.

The researchers said the study’s findings show that there is an urgent need to expand and implement initiatives such as the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). The TFFF was launched earlier this month during the COP30 in Brazil. It aims to raise and invest $125 billion, channelling returns to developing countries that conserve their forests.

However, only a handful of countries have so far agreed to contribute to the fund.

Heiko Balzter, a co-author of the study, told The Guardian, “Four years ago, at COP26 in Glasgow, world leaders declared their intention to end global deforestation by 2030. But progress is not being made fast enough. The new TFFF is intended to pay forested nations for keeping their trees rooted in the ground. It is a way for governments and private investors to counteract the drivers of deforestation, such as mining for minerals and metals, and agricultural land take. But more countries need to pay into it to make it work.”