Forests and climate change: from complex problem to integrated solution.

• Author: Hoogeveen, Hans

Global warming has become everyday news, often featured in alarming statements by Heads of Governments, scientists or environmental activists. We now know that melting glaciers, erratic global weather patterns, droughts, raging wildfires and creeping invasive species of flora and fauna in new localities are all unmistakably the effects of climate change.

Skeptics of global warming argue that changes in weather patterns are part of the natural variability in the Earth's temperature, but the majority of scientists agree they are most likely due to human-induced increased concentration of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere.

It is crucial for mankind to accept the fact that there is no way to ignore the signs of danger and the risks of the looming global climate change. There is no time to spare, we must act now. This is an excellent opportunity for all stakeholders to meet this challenge through a comprehensive approach in addressing the man-made causes of global warming, in order to create a better and brighter future worthy of the next generations. Scientists have long understood the role forests play in creating microclimates. With increasing awareness on global warming and its main culprit, carbon dioxide (C[O.sub.2]) emissions, the role of forests and plant resources in modifying the impacts of climate change is gaining renewed attention of climatologists, foresters, policymakers and the media worldwide.

The Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has reconfirmed that the increasing GHG emissions due to human activities have led to a marked increase in atmospheric GHG concentrations. Between 1970 and 2004, global GHG emissions have increased by 70 per cent; C[O.sub.2] emissions alone have grown by about 80 per cent (28% between 1990 and 2004) and represented 77 per cent of total anthropogenic GHG emissions in 2004. While the largest growth in global emissions from 1970-2004 came from the energy supply sector (an increase of 145%), growth from other sectors was also significant. Emissions from transport, industry, and land use, land-use change and forestry sectors were 120, 65 and 40 per cent, respectively.

Although the facts and figures are clear and known, the question remains: What are Governments and other stakeholders willing to do to address global warming? Is the international community really committed "to come out of the woods" and bring coherence to its approach in going beyond the strict mandates and competences of the international forest-related processes?

Trees and forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere...