Forests store a substantial amount of the

world’s carbon and increased tree death

will only propel future global warming”

“A thirsty tree growing in a tropical forest and one in a temperate forest, such
as those we find in Europe, will have largely the same response to drought
and will inevitably suffer as a result of rising temperatures and changes in
rainfall patterns,” says Sarah Greenwood, of the University of Stirling in
Scotland.

And her co-author Alistair Jump, a professor of ecology at Stirling, says: “As
the temperature of the planet continues to climb, mass tree mortality will hit
more forests than ever before.

“Forests store a substantial amount of the world’s carbon and increased tree
death will only propel future global warming.”

The role of forests in combating climate change

Published on 30/09/2012, 9:00am

By Tierney Smith

Forests cover 30% of the world’s land surface, and are home to around 90% of
the world’s land-based animals, plants, insects and birds.

They are also one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, absorbing 2.4 billion tonnes of
carbon dioxide each year and storing billions more.

Around 6 million hectares of virgin forest is lost or changed each year, and as much as
a fifth of global emissions are estimated to come from deforestation. Halting this
destruction is seen as vital for keeping global temperatures below 2°C.

Some scientists have warned that deforestation must be reduced by 50% by 2020 for
the best chance of meeting this target.
Covering 30% of the Earth's land surface, forests can absorb 2.4 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide
annually

Speaking at the Rio+20 Summit earlier this year, Louis Verchot, Director of the
Forests and Environment Programme at the Centre for International Forestry Research
(CIFOR) said that the role of forests in addressing climate change was only beginning
to be understood.

“We have an attention on forest issues which we perhaps haven’t seen in over 20
years,” he said. “Because they were treated in isolation and were forests for the sake
of forests it didn’t go nearly as far as many people had hoped at the time.

“Now we have forests linked to climate change and to other international agendas we
are seeing much more attention given to them. Between 2005 and now the discourse
and the discussion in the international community has taken off.”

REDD+

REDD+ (Reducing Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation) is at the

forefront of the international community’s effort’s to preserve vast tracts of land
currently home to forests.

The initiative, which was born in 2007 as a result of the Bali climate talks, aims to
attach a monetary value to carbon stored in forests, and offer financial incentives to
developing countries to reduce emissions from forested land.

It also incentivises conservation and sustainable management of forests, together with

the enhancement of forests as carbon stocks – through reforestation and afforestation.
REED+ was officially incorporated into the UNFCCC’s agreement on climate change
at COP16, and last year at the COP17 conference in Durban more progress was made
on implementing the scheme.

Ecosystem Services

The important services forests provide are often ignored. They can act as safety net
for local communities, helping them cope with climate shocks. Mangrove forests, for
example, can hold back storm surges or cyclonic flooding.

Trees help to protect soil and regulate water on farms. Crops grown
in agroforestry systems are often more resilient to drought, excess rain and changes in
temperatures.

Wood can often be an additional source of income for households, as well as being a
vital source of food. In the Congo Basin 80% of fat and protein people consume
comes from animals that live in the surrounding forests. And 2 million people
worldwide still rely on forests for their primary source of fuel.

Woodland has a huge role to play in regulating water supplies – decreasing storm
runoff and reducing the pollutants in rainfall before it reaches local water sources.

It also acts as a sponge, soaking up rainfall and releasing it at times of drought –

regulating water flow. Recent research has linked deforestation with changes
in regional rainfallpatterns.

A major theme and controversy at the Rio+20 Earth Summit earlier this year was how
to value these natural services – named ‘Ecosystem Services‘. Aly Abou-Sabaa from
the African Development Bank told RTCC this was vital in order to force
governments to take affirmative action.

“Right now in today’s world natural assets have not been given any meaningful value
to the extent that their uses are being over exploited and it is taking us in a very very
serious direction,” he said.

“It is important that the forests get the right value because it is important for the
people living in these forests and exploiting them to recognise that the impact is of
unsustainable exploitation of these forests but also to understand how much this
exploitation is costing the environment and the whole world globally.”

Forests Week
With Forests, and REDD+ likely to be a key issues at COP18, RTCC has teamed up
with the Centre for International Forestry Research to look at some of the key issues
surrounding forests.