That said, subtler effects of climate change such as more sudden rains and particularly hot days with disproportionate effects on yield are left out, which might mean the study underestimates the effects.

ECONOMIST: Climate change and crops

With other rainforest regions such as the Amazon also being depleted rapidly -- the percentage of the earth's land surface covered by rainforest is estimated to have slipped from 14 percent to around six percent -- the sudden disappearance of millions of hectares of the earth's natural defenses against climate change is likely to have consequences far beyond local communities and wildlife.

CNN: Logging decimates African rainforest