Sharjah24 – AFP: Deforestation and global warming in one Indonesian province caused temperatures to rise nearly a whole degree Celsius in 16 years leading to an eight percent increase in deaths, a study found Wednesday.

The report published in the Lancet Planetary Health gives a rare insight into how global warming and deforestation can affect people living in one of the world's most vulnerable regions.

"Heat from deforestation and climate change is killing workers in tropical forest countries and decreasing the ability to work safely," lead author Nicholas Wolff of the Nature Conservancy told AFP.

With resources concentrated in developed countries, studies on the affects of global warming on health and mortality have largely focused on the so called global north.

"There's a real dearth of studies looking at the impacts on those who are most vulnerable to climate change and who are least responsible," Wolff said.

His team used publicly available data to reveal how the clearing of 4,375 square kilometres (1,690 square miles) of forest in the Berau Regency increased daily maximum temperatures by 0.95°C -- on top of already warmer global temperatures -- between 2002 and 2018.

Some 17 percent of Berau lost tree cover and the resulting heat increase made outdoor work conditions unsafe an additional 20 minutes of the day and caused an estimated 104 deaths.

Using climate modelling, the study projects that under a scenario of +3°C of global warming against pre-industrial levels (or +2°C against 2018 levels) deaths could increase by about 260 per year.