What Do Tropical Forests Have to Do with Global Warming?
Tropical deforestation produces more global warming pollution than the total emissions of every car, truck, plane, ship, and train on earth. It accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s heat-trapping emissions, an amount equivalent to the emissions from China or the U.S.
Tropical forest trees, like all green plants, take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen during photosynthesis. Plants also carry out the opposite process, known as respiration, in which they emit carbon dioxide, generally in smaller amounts than taken in during photosynthesis. The remaining carbon is stored in the plant, allowing it to grow bigger. That stored carbon would be released into the air as carbon dioxide if deforestation or forest degradation occurs and trees are cut down and allowed to rot or are burned.
Since carbon dioxide is the major source of global warming pollution, tropical deforestation is an important contributor to global warming. Tropical forests must be protected from deforestation and degradation if we want to reduce emissions to the levels needed to protect the planet against the worst and most expensive global warming impacts. Ending deforestation will not solve the global warming by itself—clearly, urgent action is needed to cut the other 80 percent of emissions—but the problem cannot be solved if the 20 percent of world emissions from tropical deforestation is ignored.
Reducing deforestation is more than just a method to reduce global warming pollution. Tropical forests are home to many unique species of animals and plants. Animals like the jaguar will risk becoming extinct if we do not act to protect their home in the tropical forests. In addition, tropical forests are crucial sources of food, medicine, and clean drinking water for people in developing countries. Tropical forests help regulate regional rainfall and prevent both floods and droughts. Thus, reducing deforestation is not only a beneficial action against global warming—it also can make important contributions to saving biodiversity and supporting sustainable development.
Reasons for Tropical Deforestation
There are several common reasons for tropical deforestation. Tropical forests are cut down and burned so that the land can be used to grow crops or grazing land for cattle. Commercial logging is also a common cause of deforestation. The money earned from these land uses is generally small. The Union of Concerned Scientists supports a set of policies referred to as REDD (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries) that would pay the people in the developing countries to protect the forests rather than clearing them. If these policies were fully implemented, people in developing countries could earn more money by protecting the tropical forests than they could by clearing them. The cost paid per ton of global warming pollution prevented would be considerably less than what it costs to prevent the same amount of global warming pollution from industries in the U.S. or Europe.
