Heat from Deforestation: South-east Asia Faces Highest Death Toll

SINGAPORE – More people in South-east Asia are dying from heat worsened by deforestation than in the Congo or Amazon rainforests, despite losing a smaller total area of forest than in the Americas, a recent study led by a British university has found.

Every year in South-east Asia, around 15,680 rural residents die of heat-related complications worsened by deforestation, compared with 9,890 for the tropical regions of Africa and 2,520 for the Americas.

Between 2001 and 2020, South-east Asia lost around 490,000 sq km of vegetation, while tropical Central and South America lost around 760,000 sq km of forest.

“South-east Asia has lost a smaller total area of tropical forest, but has higher population density… leading to higher heat-related mortality,” said Dr Carly Reddington from the University of Leeds,who is the lead author of the study.

She added that Latin America has seen the greatest forest loss, but the death toll is lower because fewer people live in the deforested areas.

The study, published in scientific journal Nature Climate Change in late August,found that over 20 years,climate change and deforestation increased South-east Asia’s temperature by 0.72 deg C.

Forests not only sustain life and absorb planet-warming carbon dioxide, they also have a cooling effect on people.While the canopies provide shade, the leaves release water vapour into the air and remove some heat, much like humans sweating to cool their bodies.

When trees are cut down, this cooling effect is reduced. When shade is gone, more sunlight hits the ground directly and the land can become drier and darker, absorbing more heat, explained Dr Reddington.

“This combination leads to significant local warming, sometimes even hotter than the warming caused by global climate change over the same period,” she added.

Dr Reddington and her team used satellite data to calculate how much temperatures changed in tropical forest areas between 2001 and 2020, comparing deforested areas against intact areas.

The satellite findings were then combined with existing health data on how sensitive a population is to heat-related deaths.

Alongside over-exertion, exposure to high temperatures can lead to heatstroke and organ damage for outdoor workers.

The regions they work in could also have limited