Two-thirds of tropical rainforest destroyed or degraded globally, says NGO

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BRASILIA — Humans have degraded or destroyed roughly two-thirds of the world’s original tropical rainforest cover, new data reveals — raising alarm that a key natural buffer against climate change is quickly vanishing.

The forest loss is also a major contributor to climate-warming emissions, with the dense tropical forest vegetation representing the largest living reservoir of carbon.

Logging and land conversion, mainly for agriculture, have wiped out 34% of the world’s original old-growth tropical rainforests, and degraded another 30%, leaving them more vulnerable to fire and future destruction, according to an analysis by the …

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