Reducing carbon emissions is truly important to mitigating climate
change. But in the meantime, it’s faster and cheaper to save and regrow
tropical trees
There
was already dramatic evidence that our planet is undeniably warming
before 30 December 2015, when the world heard that the ice at the North
Pole was melting. (The temperature on 30 December 2015 was, by some reports, 33ºF [0.7ºC], 50ºF above average).
And yet one immediate, effective way to fight climate change and save polar ice caps is half a world away, in the tropics. Tropical forest conservation and restoration could constitute half of the global warming solution, according to a recent peer reviewed commentary in Nature Climate Change.
Reducing carbon emissions, as the nations of the world promised to do in Paris last month, is essential, but simultaneously pulling carbon out of the atmosphere (which is what rainforests do) would immediately and significantly reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) at a surprisingly low cost, providing a crucial bridge to a post-fossil fuel era.
The potential of rainforest conservation to address global warming should be enough to galvanize massive worldwide rainforest conservation efforts. The natural regrowth and subsequent protection of hundreds of millions of acres of degraded rainforest would result in massive absorption of carbon as the trees grow. While it is crucial that we transition away from the use of fossil fuels, the reality is that rainforest protection can happen much more quickly.
But that is only part of the story.
Rainforest conservation is also incredibly economical. One acre of Amazon rainforest in Peru, which stores up to 180 metric tonnes of CO2, can be protected for just a few dollars; the same is true elsewhere in Latin America and Africa. The implications here are astounding and should give us pause: for the cost of a meal – or even a coffee – each of us could save an area of forest about the size of four football pitches and safely store about 725 metric tonnes of CO2. To put this in perspective, the annual emissions of a typical passenger vehicle in the United States is less than 4.5 metric tonnes of CO2.
Carbon storage, however, is only one benefit of rainforest conservation. Not only do rainforests protect animals such as elephants, tigers and orangutans, they provide a refuge for hundreds and thousands of other lesser-known species. Among other benefits, the medicinal properties of undiscovered and unstudied plants may hold the key to successfully treating cancer and other deadly diseases.
And rainforests provide the world with a disproportionately high percentage of its oxygen and fresh water – the Amazon River alone contains 20% of the world’s freshwater– and act as natural engines that keep the planet’s tropical ecosystems running smoothly.
Although wholesale clear-cutting and selective logging have destroyed massive areas of rainforest, vast areas remain intact. And degraded rainforest, if allowed to regenerate, is amazingly resilient. In 10 years, seedlings can grow into 50-foot [15-meter] trees. Diverse wildlife can return and rebound within two to three years.
Both the remaining pristine rainforest and degraded forest require the world’s attention: a vigorous, concerted effort is needed if we are going to react appropriately to the staggering demands being placed on our planet’s rainforest.
Deforestation in the name of economic development has occurred routinely over many decades without regard to its devastating consequences. It is completely unsustainable for governments to continue to provide concessions, subsidies and tax breaks to business when logging, oil extraction, mining for minerals, fires, palm oil plantations, large scale commercial agriculture, cattle ranching and road construction continue to diminish the earth’s finite, invaluable rainforests.
The case for rainforest preservation – already overwhelmingly strong – can no longer be cast as a niche effort of conservationists and scientists; it needs to be everyone’s concern. For those wishing to tackle our planet’s greatest environmental challenge, there is no better place to begin than saving our tropical rainforests.
And yet one immediate, effective way to fight climate change and save polar ice caps is half a world away, in the tropics. Tropical forest conservation and restoration could constitute half of the global warming solution, according to a recent peer reviewed commentary in Nature Climate Change.
Reducing carbon emissions, as the nations of the world promised to do in Paris last month, is essential, but simultaneously pulling carbon out of the atmosphere (which is what rainforests do) would immediately and significantly reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) at a surprisingly low cost, providing a crucial bridge to a post-fossil fuel era.
The potential of rainforest conservation to address global warming should be enough to galvanize massive worldwide rainforest conservation efforts. The natural regrowth and subsequent protection of hundreds of millions of acres of degraded rainforest would result in massive absorption of carbon as the trees grow. While it is crucial that we transition away from the use of fossil fuels, the reality is that rainforest protection can happen much more quickly.
But that is only part of the story.
Rainforest conservation is also incredibly economical. One acre of Amazon rainforest in Peru, which stores up to 180 metric tonnes of CO2, can be protected for just a few dollars; the same is true elsewhere in Latin America and Africa. The implications here are astounding and should give us pause: for the cost of a meal – or even a coffee – each of us could save an area of forest about the size of four football pitches and safely store about 725 metric tonnes of CO2. To put this in perspective, the annual emissions of a typical passenger vehicle in the United States is less than 4.5 metric tonnes of CO2.
Carbon storage, however, is only one benefit of rainforest conservation. Not only do rainforests protect animals such as elephants, tigers and orangutans, they provide a refuge for hundreds and thousands of other lesser-known species. Among other benefits, the medicinal properties of undiscovered and unstudied plants may hold the key to successfully treating cancer and other deadly diseases.
And rainforests provide the world with a disproportionately high percentage of its oxygen and fresh water – the Amazon River alone contains 20% of the world’s freshwater– and act as natural engines that keep the planet’s tropical ecosystems running smoothly.
Although wholesale clear-cutting and selective logging have destroyed massive areas of rainforest, vast areas remain intact. And degraded rainforest, if allowed to regenerate, is amazingly resilient. In 10 years, seedlings can grow into 50-foot [15-meter] trees. Diverse wildlife can return and rebound within two to three years.
Both the remaining pristine rainforest and degraded forest require the world’s attention: a vigorous, concerted effort is needed if we are going to react appropriately to the staggering demands being placed on our planet’s rainforest.
Deforestation in the name of economic development has occurred routinely over many decades without regard to its devastating consequences. It is completely unsustainable for governments to continue to provide concessions, subsidies and tax breaks to business when logging, oil extraction, mining for minerals, fires, palm oil plantations, large scale commercial agriculture, cattle ranching and road construction continue to diminish the earth’s finite, invaluable rainforests.
The case for rainforest preservation – already overwhelmingly strong – can no longer be cast as a niche effort of conservationists and scientists; it needs to be everyone’s concern. For those wishing to tackle our planet’s greatest environmental challenge, there is no better place to begin than saving our tropical rainforests.
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