City, Country — 2025-12-12 Rainforests Shift from Carbon Sinks to Sources, Study Finds.
A new study published in the scientific journal Nature reveals a concerning shift in the role of Africa’s rainforests and woody savannas in the global climate change narrative. These ecosystems, which have historically acted as carbon sinks, removing atmospheric carbon and storing it as biomass, have now transitioned into carbon sources between 2010 and 2017.
This critical change has significant implications for global climate change efforts.
The research, conducted by the National Centre for Earth Observation at the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield, and Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, utilized satellite data to monitor the changes in carbon absorption by trees and woody areas.
According to the report, Africa’s forests and woodlands have historically served as a significant carbon sink, but increasing pressures have led to a decline in their ability to remove carbon from the atmosphere.
Currently, Africa’s forests account for about one-fifth of global carbon removal.
The Congo rainforest, the continent’s largest and the second largest in the world after the Amazon, has been particularly affected. Between 2011 and 2017, the Congo rainforest lost 106 million tonnes of biomass annually, severely reducing its carbon absorption capacity.
The primary drivers of this shift include increased logging to make way for agricultural land and infrastructure projects, as well as the rising demand for timber and fuelwood.
The study also predicts that these trends may be exacerbated in the future by population growth, export demand from Asia, and the resulting pressure on natural resources. “The implications of this shift are profound,” the report states.
“Africa’s forests and woodlands have historically served as a carbon sink.
Now, they are contributing to widening the global greenhouse gas emissions gap that needs to be filled to stay within the goals of the Paris Agreement. ” The Paris Agreement, a treaty between 196 countries, aims to mitigate climate change and keep the world’s temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The report calls for urgent action to protect Africa’s carbon sink and counter climate change, emphasizing the need for sustainable resource management and improved forest governance. Heiko Balzter, professor of physical geography at the University of Leicester and one of the authors of the report, told New Scientist magazine: “If we are losing the tropical forests as one of the means of mitigating climate change, then we basically have to reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning even faster to get to near-zero emissions. ” Further details are expected as experts and policymakers work to address this critical issue.
*Additional reporting by ImNews | Sources consulted: 5*
