According to a recent survey by the Washington-based Centre for Global Development, in just about 35 years, tropical forests the size of India may be felled. The study, conducted using satellite imagery and data from 100 countries, predicts that 289 million hectares (714 million acres) will be felled by 2050, which will have dangerous implications in accelerating climate change.
Forests are the lungs of the planet as they store large volumes of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, thus keeping the gas out of the environment. If current trends continue, deforestation will add 169 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere by mid-century. That is equivalent to running 44,000 coal-fired power plants for a year. “Reducing tropical deforestation is a cheap way to fight climate change," environmental economist Jonah Busch told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
UN experts estimate that the world can only burn one trillion tons of carbon in order to keep global temperature rises below two degrees, the maximum possible increase to avert catastrophic climate change. The ‘Carbon Credit' system imposed on all countries is helping curb emissions, albeit at a slow rate.
“The biggest driver of tropical deforestation by far is industrial agriculture to produce globally-traded commodities, including soy and palm oil," Busch said. The study predicted the rate of deforestation will climb through 2020 and 2030 and accelerate around the year 2040 if changes aren't made.
While there have been some success stories of countries reducing tropical deforestation without compromising economic growth or food production, like that of Brazil and the Amazon rainforest, the progress needs to increase at a steady rate, not stagnate.
Source: Financial Express
