Agricultural Expansion a Major Cause to Doubling of Annual Tropical Carbon Loss over Past Two Decades
Published:08 Apr.2022 Source:The University of Hong Kong
Using multiple high-resolution satellite datasets, researchers from the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) found that tropical carbon loss has doubled over the past two decades due to excessive forest removal in the tropics.
The tropics are an important ecosystem as they store massive amounts of carbon in their woody vegetation and soil -- but they have suffered from extensive forest clearance since 2001. The researchers analyzed the gross forest carbon loss associated with forest removal in the tropics (between 23.5° N and 23.5 S but excluding northern Australia) during the 21st century. They revealed a two-fold increase in gross tropical forest carbon loss worldwide from 0.97 gigatons of carbon per year in 2001-2005 to 1.99 gigatons of carbon per year in 2015-2019 due to rapid forest loss.