Post by Andrei Tchentchik on Mar 12, 2020 19:09:06 GMT 2
(.#A.085).- Tropical forests will emit more CO2 than they capture soon.
Tropical forests may soon emit more CO2 than they capture.
FINBARR O’REILLY ARCHIVE PHOTO, REUTERS
Garamba rainforest, in the Haute Uele region, northeast of Congo.
(Paris) Rainforests lose their capacity to absorb carbon, and the Amazon rainforest may even produce more than they capture in the next fifteen years, warn researchers, in a study published Wednesday by the journal Nature scientist.
Posted on March 04, 2020 at 1:52 pm Share
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
These conclusions should lead to a downward revision of the amount of carbon that humanity can produce to meet the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in average global temperature to less than 2 degrees, according to the authors of the study.
Currently, tropical forests represent 50% of the world's capacities for carbon absorption (by sequestration techniques), but are approaching saturation, particularly in view of the increase in emissions of human origin.
ARCHIVE PHOTO RICKEY ROGERS, REUTERS
The Amazon rainforest, photographed in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil.
The ability of forests to capture CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis is also affected by the disappearance of trees due to fire, drought or deforestation.
This capacity drops much faster in the Amazon than in the forests of sub-Saharan Africa.
A team of dozens of researchers, in Europe and in Africa, have followed the growth of trees and their mortality over 50 years in African tropical forests and compared this data with similar information on the Amazon rainforest.
Conclusion: if some forests have grown faster, boosted by carbon in the atmosphere, these meager gains are erased by droughts and temperature spikes.
Extrapolating this data over the next 20 years, according to this study, the capacity of African forests to absorb carbon will decline by 14% by 2030, and that of the Amazon will fall to zero before 2035.
• "This drop is dozens of years ahead of the most pessimistic predictions," said Wannes Hubau, an expert on forest ecosystems at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels.
• “Mortality is a natural stage in the life cycle of forest trees. But by pumping so much CO2 into the air, we have accelerated this cycle, "he told AFP.
Many of the scenarios envisioned by the Paris Climate Agreement assume that forests will continue to absorb CO2 over the long term.
Several countries have announced plans to plant more trees, as have large industrial groups that intend to offset their emissions.
• "We will have to review our climate models, but also the compensation strategies based on these models," said Mr. Hubau.
An opinion shared by Anha Rammig, of the Technical University of the School of Life Sciences, in Munich (Germany).
• "Along with increased protection of the rainforest, an even faster than expected reduction in human greenhouse gas emissions will be necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change," she wrote in a presentation by the research.
F I N .
Tropical forests may soon emit more CO2 than they capture.
FINBARR O’REILLY ARCHIVE PHOTO, REUTERS
Garamba rainforest, in the Haute Uele region, northeast of Congo.
(Paris) Rainforests lose their capacity to absorb carbon, and the Amazon rainforest may even produce more than they capture in the next fifteen years, warn researchers, in a study published Wednesday by the journal Nature scientist.
Posted on March 04, 2020 at 1:52 pm Share
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
These conclusions should lead to a downward revision of the amount of carbon that humanity can produce to meet the objective of the Paris Agreement to limit the rise in average global temperature to less than 2 degrees, according to the authors of the study.
Currently, tropical forests represent 50% of the world's capacities for carbon absorption (by sequestration techniques), but are approaching saturation, particularly in view of the increase in emissions of human origin.
ARCHIVE PHOTO RICKEY ROGERS, REUTERS
The Amazon rainforest, photographed in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil.
The ability of forests to capture CO2 from the atmosphere through photosynthesis is also affected by the disappearance of trees due to fire, drought or deforestation.
This capacity drops much faster in the Amazon than in the forests of sub-Saharan Africa.
A team of dozens of researchers, in Europe and in Africa, have followed the growth of trees and their mortality over 50 years in African tropical forests and compared this data with similar information on the Amazon rainforest.
Conclusion: if some forests have grown faster, boosted by carbon in the atmosphere, these meager gains are erased by droughts and temperature spikes.
Extrapolating this data over the next 20 years, according to this study, the capacity of African forests to absorb carbon will decline by 14% by 2030, and that of the Amazon will fall to zero before 2035.
• "This drop is dozens of years ahead of the most pessimistic predictions," said Wannes Hubau, an expert on forest ecosystems at the Royal Museum for Central Africa in Brussels.
• “Mortality is a natural stage in the life cycle of forest trees. But by pumping so much CO2 into the air, we have accelerated this cycle, "he told AFP.
Many of the scenarios envisioned by the Paris Climate Agreement assume that forests will continue to absorb CO2 over the long term.
Several countries have announced plans to plant more trees, as have large industrial groups that intend to offset their emissions.
• "We will have to review our climate models, but also the compensation strategies based on these models," said Mr. Hubau.
An opinion shared by Anha Rammig, of the Technical University of the School of Life Sciences, in Munich (Germany).
• "Along with increased protection of the rainforest, an even faster than expected reduction in human greenhouse gas emissions will be necessary to avoid catastrophic climate change," she wrote in a presentation by the research.
F I N .
