Small clearing in tropical forest

Often called Earth’s green lungs, tropical forests pull down massive amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, release oxygen and help regulate the global climate. While the threat of large-scale deforestation is well known, new findings reveal a surprising culprit – the clearance of small areas of forest accounts for more than half of all carbon losses across the Tropics. This photograph shows a small clearing in the Amazon Rainforest, in Loreto, northeast Peru.

Read full story: Tiny patches of deforestation drive tropical carbon loss