World's forests - doing much better than we think

World's forests - doing much better than we think

Friday 16 Feb 2024

Think of a planet in the grip of a climate crisis, and many of the images in your mind will be carved from wood. Forests in Canada and Australia going up in flames; loggers in the jungles of Indonesia and Brazil chain- sawing ancient trees for lumber; monocultural fir plantations marching in geometric order up the hillsides of Scotland or Sweden.

You might be surprised to discover, then, that many of the world’s woodlands are in surprisingly good condition. The destruction of tropical forests gets so much attention that we’re at risk of missing how much progress we’re making in cooler climates.

That’s a mistake. The slow recovery of temperate and polar forests won’t be enough to offset global warming, without radical reductions in carbon emissions. Even so, it’s evidence that we’re capable of reversing the damage from the oldest form of human- induced climate change — and can do the same again.

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Source: Business Standard / Bloomberg

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