Tropical forests can recover twice as quickly after deforestation if they have adequate soil nitrogen, according to new research published today. A team of scientists led by the University of Leeds established the world’s largest and longest experiment to see how nutrients affect forest regrowth in areas cleared for activities such as logging and agriculture....
Deforestation in tropical countries could contribute to increased deaths from heat exposure in nearby populations, new research has shown. Published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, the research was led by Dr Carly Reddington and Professor Dominick Spracklen, from the University of Leeds’ School of Earth and Environment. The study, which analysed areas across Central and South...
Forest clearance in Southeast Asia is accelerating and leading to unprecedented increases in carbon emissions. The findings, revealed by a research team including Leeds academics, show that forests are being cut down at increasingly higher altitudes and on steeper slopes in order to make way for agricultural intensification. As a result, more than 400 million tonnes...
Radical changes to land use are required to tackle climate change and ensure food security, according to a new report from the IPCC. The Special Report on Climate Change and Land, approved by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on 7 August in Geneva, highlights that land is under growing pressure from human activity...
Deforestation is likely to warm the climate even more than originally thought, scientists warn. An international team of scientists, led by the University of Leeds, studied the way that reactive gases emitted by trees and vegetation affect the climate. Their research, published today in Nature Communications, found these reactive gases cool our climate, meaning deforestation...