Deforestation is leading to temperature increases of up to 5°C in some tropical regions, according to data revealed in a new interactive map created by researchers at the University of Leeds.
The online tool has been designed to highlight the important role forests play in moderating local climates and will allow governments, conservation charities and those working in agriculture to investigate what impact different levels of deforestation could have on health, food production and productivity.
We hope that by understanding how forests moderate temperatures at the local scale, policymakers may give greater priority to forest protection and reducing deforestation.
It follows recent research by Dr Carly Reddington and Professor Dominick Spracklen from Leeds' School of Earth and Environment which showed that deforestation in tropical countries could contribute to increased deaths from heat exposure in nearby populations. The study, which analysed areas across Central and South America, Africa and South-East Asia, found that local climate heating caused by tropical deforestation has exposed over 300 million people to increased temperatures and is associated with 28,000 heat-related deaths each year.
"This local heating not only has important implications for human health, but also for water security, agriculture, and climate resilience – especially for vulnerable communities across the tropics", said Dr Reddington
Tropical deforestation contributes to rising temperatures through the loss of trees that would naturally regulate the climate through shade, moisture release via evapotranspiration, and carbon dioxide absorption. Without these cooling mechanisms, heat accumulates more rapidly at the surface, atmospheric moisture declines, and greenhouse gas concentrations increase.
The interactive map shows the temperature increase due to deforestation per region, district, or province. For example, deforestation in the state of Rondônia in the southern Amazon in Brazil would cause a local warming of 2.1°C. It would cause even stronger warming of more than 3°C in parts of Southeast Asia and Africa, and in the Katavi Region in Tanzania, deforestation could cause warming of more than 5°C.
COP 30
Dr Nike Doggart from the School of Earth and Environment, led the development work for the map. Early demonstrations in Tanzania have already led to a great deal of interest from government, researchers and Non-Governmental Organisations.
She said the launch of the tool was timely as world leaders assemble in Belém, Brazil for COP 30.
"This is the first tool that allows stakeholders from tropical countries to understand the impacts of deforestation on their local climates," she explained.
"We hope that by understanding how forests moderate temperatures at the local scale, policymakers may give greater priority to forest protection and reducing deforestation.
"Our tool illustrates how the Tropical Forests Forever Facility—a new Brazil-led initiative, supported by the UK and set to launch at COP30—will help protect millions of people across the tropics from extreme heat."
The tool is hosted by the Met Office on its CSSP Brazil VIEWpoint website and uses data from the recently published research paper on deforestation and heat-related mortality to present key findings in a user-friendly interactive way with English and Portuguese language options for relevance at COP 30.
Science partnerships
The CSSPBrazil VIEWpoint website showcases work which has been completed as part of the Climate Science for Services Partnership (CSSP) Brazil project. This collaboration of UK and Brazilian researchers is supported by the UK Government's International Science Partnerships Fund and produces science outputs which help to inform climate policy and services.
Dr Andy Hartley, Met Office Climate Impacts & Mitigation Scientific Manger and CSSP Brazil Senior Supplier added: "This research and interactive map show us how valuable forests are in providing ecosystem services to society, and therefore how effective protecting forests and planting trees might be for local scale adaptation strategies.
"This web tool is another great example of UK-Brazilian partnerships creating world-leading science to under-pin climate services in Brazil, funded through the Climate Science for Services Partnership, Brazil"
