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Tropical forests destroyed at fastest recorded rate in 2024

 

Getty Images Aerial shot of dense green rainforest with thick clouds of smoke rising up into the air

The world's tropical forests, which provide a crucial buffer against climate change, disappeared faster than ever recorded last year, new satellite analysis suggests.

Researchers estimate that 67,000 sq km (26,000 sq mi) of these pristine, old-growth forests were lost in 2024 – an area nearly as large as the Republic of Ireland, or 18 football pitches a minute.

Up to 900 tropical bird species could go extinct.

Up to 900 tropical bird species could 'go extinct'

 

         

wire-tailed-manakin-312x176.jpg

The wire-tailed manakin faces an uncertain future

 

Up to 900 species of tropical land birds around the world could become extinct by 2100, researchers say.

The finding is modelled on the effects of a 3.5C Earth surface temperature rise, a Biological Conservation Journal paper shows.

Species may struggle to adapt to habitat loss and extreme weather events, author Cagan Sekercioglu says.

Mountain, coastal, restricted-range, and species unable to get to higher elevations could be the worst affected.

 

Birds at risk:

Venezuela's scissor-tailed hummingbird          

African tropical glaciers disappearing and going extinct

Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo have been home to tropical glaciers for tens of thousands of years.

 

 

These glaciers currently are receeding at a rate of between 30 meters per year to 50 meters per year.

 

 

The largest "glacier" is now about 1 square kilometer, in 2012.

 

 

The rate at which these glaciers are disappearing is increasing, and they will soon be extinct in our lifetime, probably by 2020.

 

 

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