Forests are still fighting climate change, against all odds

The simple act of a tree drawing carbon dioxide from the air serves as an overlooked hero in our ongoing battle against climate change. Surrounded by threats like deforestation and wildfires, our guardians, the world’s forests, have stood resilient for more than three decades, absorbing harmful carbon dioxide even in the face of adversity.

Our source of this fresh perspective on forests’ resilience is a study led by the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA), involving researchers from 11 countries, including IIASA Distinguished Emeritus Research Scholar Anatoly Shvidenko.

Forests vs. climate change

The recent study enhances our understanding of forests’ indispensable role in mitigating climate change, even as disruptive elements attempt to dismantle their capabilities.

Delving deep into the study reveals a groundbreaking discovery. Researchers, relying on a combination of on-the-ground measurements and remote sensing data, found that forests absorb, on average, 3.5 billion metric tons of carbon annually.

That’s nearly half the carbon dioxide emissions generated from burning fossil fuels over the past three decades.

“While the overall global picture is encouraging, there are large areas with problematic trends and forecasts,” noted Shvidenko.

“This primarily concerns the central and eastern parts of northern Eurasia continent, where global warming has already led to an unprecedented spread of wildfires and the death of 33 million hectares of forests in Russia alone between 2010 and 2019.”

On-the-ground data collection

Yude Pan, senior research scientist at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service Northern Research Station and co-lead author of the study, provides interesting insights.

“Our research team analyzed data from millions of forest plots around the globe. What sets this study apart is its foundation in extensive ground measurements – essentially, a tree-by-tree assessment of size, species, and biomass,” noted Pan.

“While the study also incorporates remote sensing data, a common tool in national forest inventories and land surveys, our unique strength lies in the detailed on-the-ground data collection.”

Climate change across different forests

As we zero in on different regions, we find that the Northern Hemisphere’s Boreal forests across Alaska, Canada, and Russia have seen their carbon sink capacity fall by 36% due to wildfires, insect outbreaks, and soil warming.

The scenario is similar for tropical forests, with deforestation leading to a 31% decline in their carbon-absorption capacity.

However, thanks to regrowth in areas previously abandoned for agriculture or logging activities, they maintain a near-neutral net carbon flux. In contrast, Temperate forests have experienced a 30% surge in their carbon sink capacity, largely due to extensive reforestation, especially in China.

The balancing act

Richard Birdsey, a senior scientist at Woodwell Climate Research Center and co-lead author of the study, sheds light on the surprising nature of the team’s discoveries.

“The persistence of the global forest carbon sink was a surprise given global increases in wildfire, drought, logging, and other stressors. But it turns out that increasing emissions in some regions were balanced by increasing accumulations in other regions, mainly re-growing tropical forests and reforestation of temperate forests,” said Birdsey.

“These findings support the potential for improving protection and management of forests as effective natural climate solutions.”

Land management policies

Emerging from these revelations comes a renewed sense of urgency to rethink our land management policies and practices.

The study underscores the paramount need to reduce deforestation across all forest biomes, promote restoration of lands unsuitable for agriculture, and enhance timber harvesting practices to lower emissions from logging and related activities.

The researchers also emphasize the need for more ground sampling plots in tropical regions to improve our understanding of the global carbon budget.

The way forward

“Global forests can continue to efficiently sequester and store carbon, while simultaneously providing numerous other benefits that humans receive from the natural environment and properly functioning ecosystems,” noted IIASA senior research scholar Dmitry Schepaschenko, who contributed to the study.

“However, with increasing human pressure and a rapidly changing climate, adaptive and regionalized forest management is needed now more than ever.”

To conclude, the study resoundingly endorses forests as crucial allies in our fight against climate change. However, we have a responsibility to adapt our practices to keep these vital ecosystems thriving for the benefit of our planet and generations to come.

The study is published in the journal Nature.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–