US EditionStudy: Africa's Forests Now Emit Carbon Instead of Absorbing It
Africa's tropical moist broadleaf forests lost about 106 billion kilograms of biomass annually since 2010, driven by deforestation, mining, and conflict, researchers said.
- A new international study published in Scientific Reports on November 28, 2025 finds Africa's forests now emit roughly 200 million tonnes of CO2 annually instead of absorbing it.
- Driven by logging and mining, widespread deforestation and degradation from artisanal and small-scale miners, subsistence farmers and charcoal producers, and mining operators have driven biomass losses.
- Satellite measurements and machine learning produced a decade-long biomass map using NASA GEDI, Japan's ALOS satellites, and sparse ground data, estimating Africa lost 106 billion kilograms annually between 2010 and 2017.
- $6.6 billion in donations so far leaves a large funding gap as COP30’s Tropical Forests Forever Facility aims to raise $25 billion to help cut fossil-fuel emissions faster, Balzter warned.
- The study excluded Congo Basin peatlands, which hold about 30 billion tonnes of ancient carbon, while millions dependent on forests and threatened species face growing risks.
19 Articles
19 Articles
While historically African forests have played a carbon well role thanks to their vegetation cover, fires and deforestation would have reversed the trend today. This is the conclusion of a study by Scientific Reports published this Friday, November 28 on the Nature site.
Loss of tropical moist broadleaf forest has turned Africa’s forests from a carbon sink into a source - Scientific Reports
Africa’s forests and woody savannas have historically acted as a carbon sink, removing atmospheric carbon and storing it as biomass. However, our novel analysis reveals a critical transition from a carbon sink to a carbon source between 2010 and 2017. Using new high-resolution satellite-derived biomass maps, validated with field plots and machine learning techniques, we quantified the aboveground biomass stocks across African biomes over a decad…
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