Forests are natures biggest recycle bins, recycling not only nutrients but also essential atmospheric gases. According to a paper published in the journal Science, forests could actually help reduce global warming by taking up excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere that contributes to the green house effect. The authors – Dr Pep Canadell from CSIRO and the Global Carbon Project, and Dr Michael Raupach from CSIRO are of the opinion that ‘forests’ act as carbon sinks to remove large amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide created by human activities.
Forests, especially the tropical forests, according to the authors have the economic potential to offset 2-4 per cent of projected CO2 emissions by 2030. Forests also affect biophysical properties of the land surface, such as sunlight reflectivity and evaporation affecting the amount of insolation received and cloud formation, which effects the over all climate. Increasing the forest cover and reducing rates of deforestation can not only contribute to halting global warming but also provide economic, environmental and socio-cultural benefits as well.
The authors, however, warn that efforts to lessen climate change by increasing tropical forests, does carry the risk that events such as bushfires and insect outbreaks can release massive amounts of sequestered carbon back into the atmosphere, transformed them from a ‘CO2 sink’ to a ‘ CO2 source’.
via: sciencedaily