Tropical forests covering an area nearly the size of India are set to be destroyed in the next 35 years, a faster rate of deforestation than previously thought, a study said on Monday.
The Washington-based Center for Global Development, using satellite imagery and data from 100 countries, predicted that 289 million hectares of tropical forests would be felled by 2050. The results will have dangerous implications for accelerating climate change, the study said.
Deforestation is said to contribute to climate change, as forests store carbon while acting as a filter taking carbon dioxide gas out of the atmosphere.
If trends continue, tropical deforestation will add 169 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere by 2050, the equivalent of running 44,000 coal-fired power plants for a year, the study’s lead author said.
“Reducing tropical deforestation is a cheap way to fight climate change,” environmental economist Jonah Busch said.
He recommended taxing carbon emissions to push countries to protect their forests.
UN climate change experts estimate that nations must keep emissions to one trillion tonnes of carbon to keep global temperature rises below 2°C, the maximum possible increase before catastrophic climate change is predicted to start.
If trends continue, the amount of carbon burned as a result of clearing tropical forests is equal to roughly one-sixth of the entire global carbon dioxide allotment, Busch said.
“The biggest driver of tropical deforestation by far is industrial agriculture to produce globally traded commodities, including soy and palm oil,” he said.
The study predicted the rate of deforestation will climb through 2020 and 2030 and accelerate in about the year 2040 if changes are not made.
There have been some success stories where countries reduced tropical deforestation without compromising economic growth or food production, the study said.
Brazil decreased deforestation in the Amazon rainforest by 80 percent over a decade through the use of satellite monitoring and increased law enforcement, even as cattle and soy production rose, the study said.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS