Study Finds Africa’s Forests Now Release More Carbon Than They Absorb

Tue, 14 Apr 2026 02:42:00 +0200

A new international study led by scientists from the University of Leicester and published in *Scientific Reports* has found that Africa’s forests, once major carbon absorbers, have now become net carbon emitters since 2010. Using satellite data from NASA’s GEDI instrument and Japan’s ALOS radar satellites, combined with machine learning and ground measurements, researchers mapped over a decade of changes in aboveground forest biomass across the continent. The results reveal that between 2010 and 2017, Africa lost about 106 billion kilograms of forest biomass annually—equal in weight to around 106 million cars—mainly due to widespread deforestation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and regions of West Africa. Although some savannas saw modest growth, these gains were insufficient to offset the large-scale losses in tropical moist broadleaf forests.

Professor Heiko Balzter, one of the study’s senior authors, warned that the loss of Africa’s role as a carbon sink signific