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Africa's Forests May Be Our Last Chance to Slow Climate Change
- By Gillian Galford and Laura Sonter
- Jul 27, 2015
- 1 min read
Deforestation is now the second leading cause of global climate change. Debates on this topic often centre on the Amazon, given the high-profile destruction of its forest biodiversity. However, a troubling rise in deforestation in Central Africa - home to the world's second largest tropical forest - has received surprisingly little attention.
Two-thirds of Africa's remaining forests are located in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). These forests span 1.7 million km², which is equivalent to one-third of Brazil's Amazon. They also store 22 billion tonnes of carbon, ranking them among the world's largest remaining carbon reserves.

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