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African Rainforests will suffer from a totally new climate of unprecedented heat from 2025 onwards with staggering consequences for all life on Earth.
The most intact rainforests cover 6 countries. This 2013 study projects years of 'climate departure' on our current high emissions path:
Equatorial Guinea 2024
Gabon 2024
Cameroon 2025
Central African Republic 2028
DR Congo 2028
Republic of the Congo 2028 https://twitter.com/ClimateBen/status/1185196406233030656?s=20
Equatorial Guinea 2024
Gabon 2024
Cameroon 2025
Central African Republic 2028
DR Congo 2028
Republic of the Congo 2028 https://twitter.com/ClimateBen/status/1185196406233030656?s=20
Central Africa is experiencing the highest acceleration in deforestation of any region on Earth.
The forests of the Congo Basin face myriad threats:
industrial agriculture
proliferating road networks
new oil and gas exploration
a regional drying trend https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/rainforests-in-2020-10-things-to-watch/?__twitter_impression=true
The forests of the Congo Basin face myriad threats:
industrial agriculture
proliferating road networks
new oil and gas exploration
a regional drying trend https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/rainforests-in-2020-10-things-to-watch/?__twitter_impression=true
'The outlook for Central and West Africa's rainforests is not promising.'
'Logging roads are opening vast areas of forest to colonists and poachers. Numerous infrastructure projects have been initiated by foreign companies.'
https://rainforests.mongabay.com/20afrotropical.htm
'Logging roads are opening vast areas of forest to colonists and poachers. Numerous infrastructure projects have been initiated by foreign companies.'
https://rainforests.mongabay.com/20afrotropical.htm
Mammals, amphibians, reptiles and birds are likely to disappear on a catastrophic scale in African ecosysterms when temperatures go over 1.5C later in the 2020s. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/14/worlds-great-forests-could-lose-half-of-all-wildlife-as-planet-warms-report
The IPCC says the world won't achieve critical emissions reductions goals without stopping deforestation, but governments and corporations are driving the destruction of more trees so rapidly that rainforests are beginning to hit tipping points. https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13092019/forest-loss-rate-global-deforestation-amazon-fires-corporate-agribusiness-international-declaration?amp&__twitter_impression=true&=&__twitter_impression=true
The world’s second-largest rainforest plays a role in regulating rainfall patterns across other parts of Africa.
'Its continued disappearance could exacerbate insecurity of freshwater and food supplies for some of Africa’s most vulnerable populations.' https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/07/congo-basin-deforestation-threatens-food-and-water-supplies-throughout-africa
'Its continued disappearance could exacerbate insecurity of freshwater and food supplies for some of Africa’s most vulnerable populations.' https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/07/congo-basin-deforestation-threatens-food-and-water-supplies-throughout-africa
"This carbon sink is turning off far earlier than even the most pessimistic of these climate models". 
By 2030, the African jungle will absorb 14% less carbon dioxide than it did 10 to 15 years ago. By 2035, Amazonian trees won’t absorb any CO2 at all. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-congo-rainforest-is-losing-its-ability-to-absorb-carbon-dioxide-thats-bad-for-climate-change/
By 2030, the African jungle will absorb 14% less carbon dioxide than it did 10 to 15 years ago. By 2035, Amazonian trees won’t absorb any CO2 at all. https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-congo-rainforest-is-losing-its-ability-to-absorb-carbon-dioxide-thats-bad-for-climate-change/
“Releasing this carbon into the atmosphere through continuing deforestation not only commits us to the worst impacts of climate change, but also results in the loss of a globally important carbon sink." https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/nov/12/congo-basin-swamps-peatlands-carbon-climate-change
'Satellite data indicate the Congo Basin lost an area of forest larger than Bangladesh between 2000 and 2014.' https://news.mongabay.com/2018/11/congo-basin-rainforest-may-be-gone-by-2100-study-finds/
Elephants, gorillas, and large herbivores keep the density of small trees very low through predation, reducing competition for large trees. But in areas where these animals have been depleted by hunting, forests tend to be shorter + denser with small trees. https://rainforests.mongabay.com/congo/
The extra carbon in African forests comes from trees being larger; the average diameter of a tree in an African rainforest is 1.5 times larger than that of a tree in the Amazon. Trees in African rainforests are also taller than their Amazonian counterparts. https://theconversation.com/africas-rainforests-are-different-why-it-matters-that-theyre-protected-77203
