When Trees Fall, People Die: The Hidden Human Cost of Tropical Deforestation

Jamaican Tody

13-09-2025

Kingfisher is unsure if he is too worried, but every time he counts the fish in the pond, the number of fish seems to decrease. The hot and stressful weather also makes his feathers molt and grow slower. The situation seems life-threatening!

In “GHG Emissions”; Wild Wise Weird [1]

© Wix

Tropical forests are often called the “lungs of the Earth,” but their role in human survival extends beyond carbon storage and biodiversity. New research published in Nature Climate Change shows that cutting down these forests has an immediate and deadly consequence. It raises local temperatures and drives thousands of additional heat-related deaths each year [2].

Using satellite and population data across the tropics from 2001 to 2020, researchers found that deforestation exposed 345 million people to higher local warming, with an average increase of 0.27 °C in daytime land surface temperatures. This seemingly modest rise is enough to cause substantial health risks. The study estimates that deforestation is associated with 28,000 excess heat-related deaths annually, representing more than one-third of all climate-driven heat mortality in deforested regions [2].

The impacts are uneven. Southeast Asia carries the heaviest burden, with 8-11 deaths per 100,000 people in deforested areas, followed by tropical Africa and the Americas. Local warming from forest loss was strongest in the Amazon and parts of Southeast Asia, where deforested areas warmed by more than 0.7 °C—several times higher than warming in intact forests. These temperature spikes reduce safe working hours, lower productivity, and place vulnerable populations—especially outdoor laborers and low-income communities—at acute risk [3,4].

The study also warns that mortality linked to deforestation is comparable to other health burdens, such as air pollution from forest fires or even malaria in certain regions [5,6]. As climate change intensifies, further deforestation could multiply these dangers, making conservation not just an environmental priority but a public health necessity.

At a deeper level, ecological degradation directly reshapes human survival. By undermining forests, societies erode the very systems that regulate local climates and protect health. Strengthening the Nature Quotient (NQ) among society—the collective capacity to perceive and act on ecological interdependence—means recognizing that protecting forests is inseparable from protecting lives [7]. Every hectare conserved reduces not only carbon emissions but also the hidden, deadly toll of heat on vulnerable communities [8].

References

[1] Vuong QH. (2024). Wild Wise Weird. https://books.google.com/books?id=N10jEQAAQBAJ

[2] Reddington CL, et al. (2025). Tropical deforestation is associated with considerable heat-related mortality. Nature Climate Change, 15, 992-999. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-025-02411-0

[3] Parsons LA, et al. (2021). Tropical deforestation accelerates local warming and loss of safe outdoor working hours. One Earth, 4, 1730-1740. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.oneear.2021.11.016

[4] Wolff NH, et al. (2021). The effect of deforestation and climate change on all-cause mortality and unsafe work conditions due to heat exposure in Berau, Indonesia: a modelling study. The Lancet Planetary Health, 5, e882-e892. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00279-5/fulltext

[5] MacDonald AJ, Mordecai EA (2019). Amazon deforestation drives malaria transmission, and malaria burden reduces forest clearing. PNAS, 116, 22212-22218. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1905315116

[6] Reddington CL, et al. (2014). Contribution of vegetation and peat fires to particulate air pollution in South-east Asia. Environmental Research Letters, 9, 094006. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-9326/9/9/094006

[7] Vuong QH, Nguyen MH. (2025). On Nature Quotient. Pacific Conservation Biology, 31, PC25028. https://doi.org/10.1071/PC25028 

[8] Nguyen MH. (2024). How can satirical fables offer us a vision for sustainability? Visions for Sustainability, 23(11267), 323-328. https://doi.org/10.13135/2384-8677/11267