Deforestation Kills More Than 28,000 People Every Year

Deforestation in the tropics has caused more than half a million deaths from heat-related illnesses over the past 20 years, according to a new study. The authors note that land clearing in rainforests in the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia is increasing temperatures because it reduces shade, lowers rainfall, and increases fire risk.

In addition to global climate change, deforestation is responsible for more than a third of the warming experienced by people living in affected areas. Between 2001 and 2020, approximately 345 million people in the tropics were affected by this localized warming from deforestation, and for 2.6 million of them, it meant an additional 3°C of heat exposure.

This warming has been deadly in many cases. Researchers estimated that deforestation-related warming caused an average of 28,330 deaths per year over a 20-year period. More than half of these deaths occurred in Southeast Asia, due to the large populations in heat-vulnerable regions. About a third occurred in tropical Africa, and the remainder in Central and South America.

An Overlooked Danger Amid Climate Debates

The new study , published Wednesday in the journal Nature Climate Change, involved researchers from Brazil, Ghana and the United Kingdom who compared non-accidental death rates with temperatures in areas affected by land clearing in tropical regions.

Previous studies have shown that logging and burning trees lead to long-term local warming. However, this new paper is the first to calculate the resulting deaths. Professor Dominick Spracklen of the University of Leeds said the message is that "deforestation kills." He expected many people to be shocked by these findings, but he also noted that the local dangers of deforestation are often lost in global climate debates and the market-driven expansion of agricultural frontiers.

Forests are in Continuous Activity

As an example, Spracklen pointed to the Brazilian region of Mato Grosso, which has been largely deforested for massive soybean plantations. Farmers there are now pushing to end the soy moratorium in the Amazon so they can clear more land for agriculture.

Spracklen added that preserving forest cover will save lives and increase agricultural production:

"If Mato Grosso can keep its forests standing, people there will experience less heat stress. This isn't just a call from the Western world to protect forests for the sake of the global climate. Forests directly benefit local communities. They regulate temperature, bring rain, and support subsistence agriculture. These forests aren't just sitting idle. They're working really hard and are doing a vital job for us."