Topic 4.2: Maintenance of Forests’ Contribution to Global Carbon Budgets

course_banner.jpg

Content

Topic Introduction

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing humanity at the current time. Global temperatures are expected to rise beyond levels that ecosystems can adapt to, and significant changes seem likely. All human activity will be affected, and this is prompting serious international collaboration on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

Forests have two major roles to play here. Firstly, significant emissions are generated by forest degradation and deforestation. It is in the interest of forest managers to stop and even reverse these losses, although the problems are largely associated with the agricultural sector and its expansion as the world population both increases and seeks steadily better levels of nutrition. Reducing emissions from forest degradation and deforestation (known as REDD) has become an important policy tool in many countries, especially as there are a number of added benefits (referred to as REDD+).

The second area that forests can play a major part in reducing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide is through maintenance and enhancement of carbon sinks in forests. This involves both ensuring that carbon losses are minimized as a result of harvesting (including looking at the entire life cycle of forest products), and increasing the amount of carbon being sequestered in forests by increasing the area of forest, and lengthening rotation times. All activities are important, but they will only work if the forests themselves can adapt to the changes in climate that are accompanying the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

FODE001