Setting fire to forest and agricultural land in Southeast Asia to prepare it for cultivation or grazing contributes to an estimated 59,000 premature deaths a year, say scientists. Their analysis reveals that the greatest health impact from the burning, which releases tiny particles into the air which can get into people’s lungs, is felt by…
Scientists studying tropical forests in Africa’s mountains were surprised to uncover how much carbon they store, and how fast some of these forests are being cleared. The international study, published in Nature, found that intact forests on Africa’s tropical mountains store around 150 tonnes of carbon per hectare. This means that keeping each hectare of forest…
Extensive chains of volcanoes have been responsible for both emitting and then removing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), stabilising temperatures at Earth’s surface. An international research team explored the combined impact of processes in the Earth, oceans and atmosphere over the past 400 million years. Their findings are published in the journal Nature Geoscience. The researchers included…
A Leeds researcher has been awarded a Fellowship in Agriculture and Climate Change to engage with the international climate negotiations in the run up to and beyond COP26. Dr Stephen Whitfield, Associate Professor of Climate Change and Food Security in the School of Earth and Environment, will be working to support the negotiations through the…
Changes in the Earth’s climate caused by human activity are being observed in every region and across the whole climate system, according to a major international report released today. For the past three years, Leeds researchers have worked with hundreds of experts from across the world to deliver the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)…
