Unlike the US the European Union is striving hard to combat global warming has been proved once again in a new study which said the EU forests are actually expanding. The study carried out by researchers of University of Helsinki and published in the British journal Energy Policy said that forests grew by 10 percent in the western EU countries and by 15 prcent in the eastern countries between 1990 and 2005.
The reasons for expansion of forests include better conservation policies of the EU countries, migration to the cities and increased agricultural productivity that needs less land. Scientists estimated that net expansion of forests in the 27 EU nations absorbed 126 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from 1990 to 2005. This is equivalent to 11 percent of EU carbon dioxide emissions from human activities.
The forests in Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Slovenia, Bulgaria and Finland had the highest net absorption. The EU has set a goal of reducing its greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020.
Image: parco foreste casentinesi
Source: reuters