Africa’s forests have changed their role in our planet’s climate story—from being heroes who soak up carbon to villains that release it! This big switch has happened since 2010, according to eye-opening research. Now, all three of the world’s giant rainforests—the Amazon in South America, the lush jungles of south-east Asia, and Africa’s vast green lands—are part of the problem instead of the solution to climate change. What’s causing this sad twist? It’s mostly humans! Farmers are clearing forests to grow more food. Mining and building roads and cities make things worse. Burning fossil fuels like gas, oil, and coal heats the planet and kills these vital forests. Between 2010 and 2017, Africa’s forests lost about 106 billion kilograms of tree biomass each year—that’s as heavy as 106 million cars! The tropical moist broadleaf forests in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, and west Africa suffered the most. The study, published in Scientific Reports, was done by top scientists from the National Centre for Earth Observation at the Universities of Leicester, Sheffield, and Edinburgh. Using satellites and smart computers, they watched how forests’ carbon storage changed for over ten years. They found that while Africa’s forests did soak up carbon between 2007 and 2010, since then, cutting and loss have flipped the balance. Now, these forests are releasing more CO2 than they store. The scientists warn: urgent steps are needed to stop forest loss, or we risk losing one of Earth’s best natural ways to fight climate change. One hopeful move comes from Brazil, which started the Tropical Forest Forever Facility (TFFF). This plan aims to raise over $100 billion to pay countries to keep their forests safe and untouched. But so far, only a few nations have put together about $6.5 billion for this goal. Professor Heiko Balzter, a lead researcher from the University of Leicester, stressed the need to quickly boost the TFFF. He said, “Policymakers ought to respond by putting better safeguards in place to protect the world’s tropical forests.” He also reminded us of promises from four years ago at the Cop26 meeting in Glasgow, where world leaders vowed to stop deforestation by 2030. But progress is too slow. The TFFF offers a smart way for governments and investors to fight threats like mining and farming that destroy forests. Still, more countries need to join in and fund this mission, or the world’s green lungs may collapse, making climate change even worse.