US EditionDeforestation Caused Half a Million Deaths in 20 Years, Study Finds
Deforestation raises local temperatures and causes over 28,000 annual heat-related deaths, impacting vulnerable tropical populations lacking cooling resources, researchers say.
- On Wednesday, a Nature Climate Change study led by University of Leeds researchers found tropical deforestation claimed over half a million lives between 2001 and 2020.
- Clearing trees reduces evapotranspiration and shade, producing drier, hotter local conditions that strain human physiology; local warming from deforestation accounts for about 64% of the total warming seen where forests were lost.
- The University of Leeds team mapped exposure and mortality and found about 345 million people across the tropics suffered extra heat from deforestation between 2001 and 2020, causing roughly 28,330 annual deaths, including 15,680 in Southeast Asia.
- Researchers warned that vulnerable and indigenous communities living near deforested areas face heightened risks due to limited local health systems and cooling infrastructure, urging urgent reforestation and adaptation policies to reduce deaths.
- The European Union's 2024 rules require businesses and global supply chains to curb imports linked to deforestation, while public health framing of forest protection could boost stronger action, analysts say.
14 Articles
14 Articles
This is the first study to link a global mortality rate to heat-related deforestation. "Forests can literally save lives."
The felling of trees raises temperatures, causing almost 30,000 deaths a year, half of which in Southeast Asia
Deforestation in tropical areas caused 28,000 heat-related deaths a year in the last two decades: What a new study says
A new study reveals that deforestation-induced warming caused an additional 28,000 heat-related deaths annually in tropical regions from 2001 to 2020, with Southeast Asia being the most affected. Discover the implications for climate and health.
Deforestation has killed more than half a million people in the past 20 years, according to a new study. The cause is local warming and heat-related illnesses.
Deforestation is killing people by raising local temperatures
For decades, the case for saving tropical forests has been cast in terms of carbon. Trees sequester vast quantities of it; razing them pumps more into the air. But new research reminds us that the destruction of rainforests has consequences that arrive long before the carbon accounting is tallied: It makes people hotter, sometimes lethally […]
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