Degradation and forgone removals increase the carbon impact of intact forest loss by 626%

A new study in the journal Science Advances from the Wildlife Conservation Society and the University of Queensland says that carbon impacts from the loss of intact tropical forests has been widely underreported. The study calculates new figures relating to intact tropical forest lost between 2000-2013 that show an increase of 626 percent in the long-term net carbon impacts through 2050. The revised total equals two years’ worth of all global land-use change emissions. The report says that when accounting for the loss of carbon storage we must measure what the authors term “hidden emissions” resulting from selective logging and its associated impacts of fragmentation and wildlife loss in intact forests.  Additionally, the authors introduce “forgone carbon removals” – the lost potential of tropical forests to sequester carbon for the next thirty years when accounting for carbon removal of intact tropical forests.

Read the full report here.