{"id":31966,"date":"2026-01-22T16:47:47","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T06:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/?p=31966"},"modified":"2026-01-22T16:47:49","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T06:47:49","slug":"africas-forests-emit-more-carbon-than-they-store-new-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodcentral.com.au\/africas-forests-emit-more-carbon-than-they-store-new-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Africa\u2019s Forests Emit More Carbon Than They Store, New Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Africa\u2019s forests have now passed the point of acting as a carbon sink, with new research revealing they now emit more carbon than they absorb. The research<\/a>, led by the University of Leicester, shows that African forests lost an average of 106 billion kilograms of forest biomass each year between 2010 and 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The international team, which included researchers from the National Centre for Earth Observation at the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield, and Edinburgh, used satellite and radar data from the European Space Agency (ESA) and thousands of field measurements to track changes in above\u2011ground biomass over more than a decade. Their analysis shows that Africa\u2019s forests gained carbon between 2007 and 2010, but \u201cextensive losses in tropical rainforest regions have since reversed that trend,\u201d turning the continent into a net carbon source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Click here to download the research<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Most losses occurred in tropical moist broadleaf forests, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and parts of West Africa. And whilst some savanna regions experienced gains from increased shrub growth, these increases \u201cwere not sufficient to counterbalance the overall losses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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According to Professor Heiko Balzter, a senior author of the study and Director of the Institute for Environmental Futures at the University of Leicester, the results are \u201ca critical wake\u2011up call for global climate policy. If Africa\u2019s forests are no longer absorbing carbon, it means other regions and the world as a whole will need to cut greenhouse gas emissions even more deeply to stay within the 2\u00b0C goal of the Paris Agreement and avoid catastrophic climate change.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Balzter also urged governments and financial institutions to scale up support for the newly announced Tropical Forests Forever Facility. He said climate finance \u201cmust be scaled up quickly to put an end to global deforestation for good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Human activity has turned all of the planet\u2019s 3 main rainforest regions \u2013 the South American Amazon, south-east Asia and Africa \u2013 from a carbon sink into a carbon source
Humanity is a failed species headed for the dustbin of historyhttps:\/\/t.co\/DqTkDtUJnO<\/a><\/p>— GO GREEN (@ECOWARRIORSS) November 28, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote>