As tropical forests dwindle as a result of deforestation and climate change, the Earth is losing one of its strongest safeguards against pollution.

Tropical forests can serve as something The Guardian describes as "carbon sinks," meaning they absorb carbon from the atmosphere. But those forests, including the Amazon, are diminishing and have been absorbing fewer and fewer pollutants as the years go by. They could soon completely reverse course and become carbon sources as early as the 2060s, new research has found, per The Guardian. The reduction in tropical forests will likely accelerate a climate breakdown in a manner similar to melting ice sheets and permafrost.

"We've found that one of the most worrying impacts of climate change has already begun," said Simon Lewis, a professor in the school of geography at Leeds University in the United Kingdom and one of the senior authors of the research. "This is decades ahead of even the most pessimistic climate models."

Lewis said forests can't keep "mopping up" pollution forever, but he did suggest that there is time for people to intervene "before the global carbon cycle starts working against us." The caveat, he said, is that time is now. Read more at The Guardian.

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