Every year, humanity clears 10 million hectares of forests, an area equivalent to the size of Portugal.
The loss of these ecosystems is devastating for wildlife and the billions of people who rely on forests for food, water and other essentials.
But deforestation has another, often-overlooked peril: it is stoking climate change. The felling of trees in tropical areas alone releases more than 5.6 billion tonnes of planet-warming greenhouse gasses every year. That is more than four times the combined total of aviation and shipping.
As countries prepare to update their national climate pledges in 2025, a key part of the landmark Paris Agreement on climate change, experts are urging them to include concrete targets to end deforestation and restore forests. Without those provisions, experts say, countries will be hard pressed to rein in a climate crisis that is shattering temperature records and unleashing a maelstrom of extreme weather around the world.
“Not only do forests support rich biodiversity and provide for human societies and economies but they play a vital role in stabilizing our climate,” says Mirey Atallah, head of the Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience branch of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “If we are to have any hope of slowing climate change, we must halt deforestation.”
Here is a closer look at how forests can counter the climate crisis.
How does deforestation feed the climate crisis?
Trees are some of the planet’s most important warehouses of carbon, absorbing the element from the air via photosynthesis, and storing it in their leaves, roots and trunks.
But when trees decay or are burned, they release stored carbon into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide. This is a greenhouse gas that traps heat near the Earth’s surface, raising temperatures and propelling climate change.
At the same time, the loss of trees means forests are no longer able to absorb as much carbon from the air as before, a double hit for the climate.
Why is addressing deforestation and climate change so important right now?
Human activities, like the burning of fossil fuels, are pushing greenhouse gas emissions to record levels, sparking climatic upheaval, including flooding, droughts and wildfires. These catastrophes affect millions of people and cause trillions of dollars in economic losses each year.
And they are poised to get worse. UNEP data shows that based on current national commitments, the planet could warm from 2.5°C to 2.9°C this century, well above the goals of the Paris Agreement and enough to trigger widespread climate chaos.
Cutting emissions quickly by saving and restoring forests is considered vital.
How much of a difference can safeguarding forests make in the battle against climate change?
A big one. To keep global warming below 1.5°C, a key goal of the Paris Agreement, the world must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 22 gigatonnes annually by 2030. Halting deforestation could reduce emissions by 4 gigatonnes a year, according to the UN-REDD Programme, a partnership between UNEP, the UN Development Programme and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN. Protecting and restoring forests is one of many nature-based solutions that countries can use to limit greenhouse gas emissions. A UNEP report found these strategies could help cut emissions anywhere from 10 gigatonnes to 18 gigatonnes a year by 2050.
Is the world making enough progress in the effort to end deforestation?
No. Driven almost entirely by the expansion of agriculture, deforestation continues at a breakneck pace. The world has lost 420 million hectares of forests since 1990, found the Food and Agriculture Organization. That is an area about half the size of China. From 2015-2020, the rate of deforestation was 10 million hectares a year, an area about the size of Portugal.
How can national climate plans help counter deforestation?
All 195 signatories of the Paris Agreement climate treaty adopted in 2015 must submit Nationally Determined Contributions. These climate plans outline how countries are going to reduce emissions and can include everything from investments in renewable energy to the promotion of more sustainable farming practices.
Despite the climate-change-fighting ability of forests, only 40 per cent of the most deforestation-prone countries have measures to protect forests in their nationally determined contributions, found a recent UN-REDD report.
With a new round of pledges due in 2025, Atallah says this is a “golden opportunity” for policymakers to incorporate concrete targets for protecting and restoring forests.
How can countries improve plans to halt deforestation?
The first step is to set clearly defined targets for stopping deforestation and restoring forests within nationally determined contributions, says Atallah. The often-complex drivers of deforestation, including resource extraction and the unchecked expansion of agriculture, will require national dialogues and trade-offs.
National climate plans should also consider the diverse perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, rural communities, women and young people, found the UN-REDD report. Developing countries, which are home to the vast majority of deforestation, also need technical and financial support to live up to their commitments to protect forests.
UNEP is working with countries to ensure that payments for forests, be those from the development community or from carbon markets, reflect the true value of forest ecosystems and provide a meaningful funding flow to developing countries. According to a report published by UN-REDD, forest carbon prices should rapidly climb to US$30-US$50 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent to have impact. Currently, they are at or below US$10 per ton of carbon dioxide equivalent, which is by any measure, way less than it costs to maintain forests.
“We are running out of time to tackle the climate crisis,” says Atallah. “If countries do not make real progress in protecting forests and cutting emissions with this round of nationally determined contributions, it may be too late to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”
UNEP is at the forefront of supporting the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global temperature rise well below 2°C, and aiming for 1.5°C, compared to pre-industrial levels. To do this, UNEP has developed the Sectoral Solution, a roadmap to reducing emissions across sectors in line with the Paris Agreement commitments and in pursuit of climate stability. The six sectors identified are: energy; industry; agriculture and food; forests and land use; transport; and buildings and cities.
