Contributing to a Crisis: How Deforestation is a Driver of Climate Change

Deforestation and climate change are two of the biggest environmental impacts facing the planet today therefor it is important to know the interaction between them. Using a meta-analysis we looked at the effect the deforestation has on the climate as well as climate change. Ten papers were selected from 185 initial results representing twenty-five with large rain forests and used for statistical analysis. In order to produce relevant and applicable results the papers were restricted to the last five years. We found that deforestation has both regional and global impacts on the climate. This result has significant implications because it shows that slowing deforestation is not only critical for the local environment but also for the entire global climate.