Britannica Sources used in this answer

How do deforestation and land clearing affect carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

Tall giant sequoia trees with reddish bark and thick trunks rise closely together in a dense forest at Sequoia National Park, California. — tree A stand of giant sequoia trees (*Sequoiadendron giganteum*) in Sequoia National Park, California.

Deforestation and land clearing significantly impact atmospheric carbon dioxide levels by disrupting the natural carbon cycle in two primary ways.1

First, trees and other vegetation act as vital carbon sinks by absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis to build their biomass. When forests are cleared, this capacity for carbon sequestration—the long-term storage of carbon—is lost, meaning fewer plants are available to mitigate global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the air.2134

Second, the process of clearing land often involves burning or allowing vegetation to decompose. As trees, shrubs, and other plants are destroyed, the carbon they stored during their lifetimes is released back into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Because carbon dioxide is a potent greenhouse gas, these combined actions—the loss of future absorption and the release of stored carbon—contribute directly to the rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and the acceleration of climate change.41352