Tropical forests may be vanishing even faster than previously thought

By Chris Mooney

There’s no other way to put it: Cutting down tropical forests is disastrous. The lush plant life in these areas sequesters huge amounts of carbon, pulling it out of the atmosphere to fuel plant growth. Chopping down a rainforest releases carbon back to the atmosphere, worsening global warming.

But at least this problem was supposed to be getting better — a little.