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Forest management practices with high climate mitigation potential can increase forest sinks by creating mixed forests or choosing more resilient tree species, while mitigating impacts from natural disturbances like drought or windthrow.
Carbon Sequestration
Forests act as carbon sinks by sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through biological carbon sequestration, known as biological carbon sequestration. Carbon can be stored in vegetation such as forests, grasslands, rangelands, soil organic matter and even in water bodies like the ocean – where about 25% of carbon released annually is absorbed yearly – either released back into the atmosphere via volcanism or taken up by plants; its balance determines atmospheric CO2 levels overall.
Trees in healthy forest ecosystems serve as net carbon stores, taking in around 2 billion tons of carbon from the atmosphere each year and serving to slow climate change. Without their removal from the air, temperatures would quickly increase, leading to droughts and shorter rainy seasons; melting ice caps; rising sea levels; decreased agricultural production; as well as other consequences that harm humans, animals and plants in general.
Reforestation and sound forest management practices such as site preparation burning, fertilization, thinning, salvage logging, hardwood control, livestock grazing and plant breeding all serve to increase carbon storage in areas with high biodiversity and cultural significance such as primary forests or World Heritage sites. Reforestation can help mitigate climate change in these high value sites while improving forest health overall.
Forest carbon sequestration is no simple fix and should not be treated as such. A major challenge of forest expansion in one place often requires taking land away from agriculture production – which may reduce food production, leading to hunger or malnutrition issues; another issue arises because expansion in one area can decrease tree numbers elsewhere and cause them to be overharvested.
Biodiversity
Biodiversity is an effective tool for mitigating climate change. It plays an essential role in creating a functioning carbon cycle and dispersing life-sustaining nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in an organic form.
Climate change poses a growing threat to biodiversity as rising temperatures and changes in precipitation alter animal and plant habitats, growing seasons, population numbers and disease outbreaks (e.g. the Mountain Pine Beetle and Lyme disease). Furthermore, ocean warming and acidification threaten fisheries and coral reefs which many companies depend on for profits.
Scientists utilize numerous approaches to measure and describe biodiversity. These include using statistical indexes that compare areas with one another, such as species richness or evenness of populations in an area. Such measures provide snapshots of biodiversity at specific moments in time.
Examining genetic diversity provides a more complete view, such as inbreeding or genetic distance between populations. Douglas fir trees in the west exhibit wide variations between their genes that determine cold hardiness, drought resistance and other characteristics despite having similar appearances.
Biological diversity provides a natural buffer against climate change, evidenced by two-thirds of global biodiversity targets which will also lower greenhouse gas emissions. But to effectively address both issues simultaneously requires policymakers to break down barriers between them; planting monocultures of nonnative tree species won’t contribute to increasing biodiversity; instead reducing runoff nitrogen and phosphorus that contributes to eutrophication can protect both biodiversity and the climate simultaneously.
Water Quality
Forests provide multiple benefits to water quality, such as reducing runoff and sediment erosion, providing groundwater recharge, filtering pollutants from surface waters and storing stormwater. Forests also play an integral part of the carbon cycle – trees absorb CO2 from the air before storing it in wood, plants and soils – though climate change can alter this relationship, with higher water temperatures increasing eutrophication, flooding events increasing drought incidence causing social costs (IPCC).
Healthy forests reduce the potential for contaminants to bioaccumulate. Such accumulation takes place when organisms living in their environment absorb contaminants that are then passed up the food chain until reaching toxic levels in upper-level predators. Forests remove contaminants through water vapor and precipitation removal systems and by blocking their movement into streams, rivers and lakes that provide drinking, cooking and washing water sources.
Urban forests play a vital role in mitigating climate change by providing cooling effects through reduced urban albedo and increased evapotranspiration, as well as helping to lower energy costs associated with heating and cooling buildings in summer by decreasing winter warming (as trees provide insulation against heat gain) while cooling them in winter (20). Urban forests can also serve as valuable social and psychological resources for city residents – evidence suggests they foster stronger community bonds, increase social interactions and establish an overall sense of place and belonging (20).
Few studies have explicitly investigated the sensitivity or adaptability of water quality practices to projected climate change, though inferences can be drawn from knowledge of key functional processes and projections of future hydroclimatic changes. It is evident that performance will be altered by climate variability and that management strategies must take this into account if water quality goals are to be fulfilled.
Energy
Forests provide invaluable services to society; one such benefit includes energy storage that plays an essential role in climate change mitigation.
Forest-based renewable energy can reduce our reliance on fossil fuels while providing us with an environmentally-friendly energy alternative, but in order for it to work sustainably we must first ensure forests are managed sustainably – this will require “Climate-Smart Forestry”.
This approach considers all of the roles forests play in landscapes and seeks to maximize them, such as by integrating forestry into urban and rural development plans and taking climate change impacts into account when making forest management plans.
Urban forests can play a powerful role in mitigating climate change by helping to lower air conditioning costs by absorbing heat and providing shade, as well as meeting winter heating requirements by offering evergreen or deciduous trees that provide insulation. Active urban forestry for climate change mitigation improves health and structure of urban forests while strengthening community resilience to climate-related threats and creating more attractive, liveable cities, towns, villages.
Reaching climate neutrality requires rapid increases in LULUCF sector’s net CO2 removals, with forests being expected to play an essential part. Unfortunately, their role as carbon sinks is currently declining across many countries due to factors including decreasing net increment and harvest (e.g. Finland, Sweden and Austria) along with natural disturbances like insect outbreaks and drought. One solution lies in sustainable forest management through employing climate-smart practices such as preferring mixed forests over conifer monocultures as well as encouraging reforestation and recovery after disturbances.
Food
Agrifood accounts for one quarter of human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and is one of the primary contributors to deforestation. Furthermore, agriculture magnifies climate change impacts through soil carbon loss and indirect methane and nitrous oxide emissions from fertilizer use, drainage practices, cultivation of nitrogen-fixing crops as well as conversion from forest land into cropland or pasture, deforestation or conversion practices that increase carbon emissions.
Reaching climate change mitigation goals requires food industry to significantly lower GHG emissions. To do so, this will involve improving agricultural production efficiency, decreasing energy use for farming operations, as well as cutting meat consumption. Farmers and consumers must also become more aware of climate change’s implications on food security.
Food production will remain vulnerable to climate change-related hazards like droughts, floods and heat waves that pose threats such as decreased crop yields, food insecurity and higher prices due to climate events like droughts, floods and heat waves. Furthermore, quality will suffer as natural disasters become more frequent and intense.
IUCN recognizes the vital role that forests and nature can play in keeping global temperature increases within an acceptable two degree Celsius limit. An effective climate change mitigation effort must take into account sustainable development, poverty eradication and the rights of indigenous and local communities to forest resources. As developing countries struggle to meet the needs of food supply and production at reasonable costs, and promote sustainable dietary options that lower environmental impact in food systems. It is therefore crucial for member states operating within different international forest policy and climate change governing bodies to coordinate better and communicate consistent messages to relevant bodies.
