How deforestation killed half a million people in twenty years

When we think of deforestation , we tend to imagine its consequences in abstract terms: tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, ecosystems lost forever, contributions to global warming. We rarely consider the more immediate and devastating impact: the human lives lost here and now , in communities living on the edges of tropical forests.

Anew study published in Nature Climate Change offers a disturbing perspective on this often-ignored reality. According to research conducted by an international team of scientists from Brazil , Ghana , and the United Kingdom , deforestation in tropical regions has caused the deaths of over half a million people in the last twenty years, primarily due to heat-related diseases.

The research, which represents the first systematic attempt to quantify the human toll of local deforestation , reveals how logging in the rainforests of the Amazon, Congo, and Southeast Asia is creating lethal conditions for surrounding populations . The mechanism is as simple as it is deadly: removing forest cover eliminates natural shade , reduces rainfall, and increases the risk of fires , dramatically raising local temperatures.

The numbers emerge with shocking clarity from data collected between 2001 and 2020. Approximately 345 million people in tropical regions suffered from this localized warming caused by deforestation. For 2.6 million of them, the increase in temperatures added 3 degrees Celsius to their heat exposure, often with fatal consequences. Researchers estimate that this additional warming was responsible for 28,330 annual deaths during the period studied.

The geographic distribution of these deaths reflects both population density and the intensity of deforestation. More than half of the deaths were concentrated in Southeast Asia, where large populations live in areas vulnerable to extreme heat. About a third of the victims were in tropical Africa , with the remainder in Central and South America .

The global context makes these data even more alarming. According to the FAO , 420 million hectares of global forest were lost between 1990 and 2020, an area equivalent to the entire European Union . The pace of destruction remains alarming: approximately 10 million hectares disappear each year due to conversion to agriculture, while 2022 saw a 10% increase in primary forest loss , with 4.1 million hectares destroyed. Preliminary data for 2024 show that Brazil alone lost 2.8 million hectares.

Dominick Spracklen of the University of Leeds, one of the lead authors of the study, interviewed by the British newspaper The Guardian , doesn't hesitate to define the situation bluntly: "Deforestation kills." Spracklen explains that many people are shocked by these findings because the local dangers of deforestation are often overshadowed by global climate debates and the expansion of agricultural markets.

The example of Brazil's Mato Grosso perfectly illustrates this dynamic. The region has undergone massive deforestation to make way for vast soy plantations, and now local farmers are pushing for an end to the moratorium on soy in the Amazon , seeking to free up even more land for agricultural expansion.

However, as Spracklen points out, maintaining intact forest cover would not only save lives but also increase agricultural productivity. "If Mato Grosso could keep its forests standing, people there would live with less heat stress ," he observes. "It's not just the West calling for forest protection for the sake of the global climate. Forests directly benefit local communities . They regulate temperatures, bring rain, and support the agriculture on which people depend."

This observation strikes at the heart of a fundamental paradox: tropical forests are not passive ecosystems waiting to be "developed," but active systems that provide essential services to human communities. They act as natural temperature regulators, precipitation generators, and supports sustainable agriculture . Their destruction does not represent progress, but a step backward toward more difficult and dangerous living conditions.

The study by Spracklen and colleagues represents a crucial contribution to the debate on deforestation because it shifts the focus from global and long-term consequences to immediate ones. and local . While we continue to debate the effects of deforestation on global climate change, hundreds of thousands of people are already paying the ultimate price for our economic development choices.

The research raises fundamental questions about the sustainability of current land-use practices in tropical regions. If we truly want to pursue development that leaves no one behind, we must recognize that cutting down forests doesn't just mean losing biodiversity or contributing to global warming: it condemns the people who live in the surrounding areas to death .