Luckily, healthy forests can keep global warming in check. Forests contain 662 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide – the most significant greenhouse gas –. After oceans, forests are the world’s largest repositories of carbon. They absorb and store more than half the global carbon stock in soils and vegetation. This means that forests and trees are among the best carbon-capture technology available. And therefore, the solution to climate change.
Sadly, forests can also be a source of greenhouse gases. The emissions from deforestation and forest degradation make up nearly 50% of global emissions. Moreover, agriculture, forestry, and other land uses are responsible for almost a quarter of all man-made greenhouse gas emissions.
Forests and their crucial role in the fight against climate change have become increasingly visible in international agreements since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1994. Since then, international meetings regarding climate change have become more and more important. And the implementation of forests in combating the threat has become more and more defined.
Nowadays, consumers are gradually demanding forest products from sustainable sources. Progressively, forest product corporations are beginning the conversion to deforestation-free supply chains. For instance, palm oil, timber, paper, cattle, soy, cocoa, and coffee are products that will no longer contribute to deforestation and forest degradation, regarding the new EU Regulation.
To maintain protected areas and launch sustainable initiatives, many countries are restoring degraded and deforested land. This helps to take pressure off healthy forests and reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. Concretely, restoring forests has the
potential to avoid more than one-third of the total climate change mitigation that scientists say is required by 2030 to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.
Increasing and maintaining forests, ending forest conversion, and preserving the forest carbon sink, is, therefore, an essential solution to climate change. Nature – and in particular, forests – must be part of the answer to keeping the climate in the globally accepted two-degree temperature limit.