It seems like there’s no end in sight to the destructive effects that climate change keeps having on our planet. And a new study has just pored fuel on the fire as it revealed that the Boreal forest are in danger of being pushed to a tipping point.
The news is that much more alarming as Boreal forests make up roughly 30 percent (30%) of the world’s entire forest area. But the warmer temperatures caused by greenhouse gases and human activity is threatening their very existence.
Many field experts are urging international policy makers to set their sights on saving Boreal forests, and international forestry experts even published a paper on the topic just last week (on Thursday, August 20, 2015), in the journal Science.
The essay was somewhat strategically published as it was part of a special issue dedicated to raising awareness about forests and released just before the World Forestry Congress, which is set to take place in September (next month).
Anatoly Shvidenko, a research scholar from the Ecosystems Services and Management Program at the Austria International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, gave a statement saying that “Boreal forests have the potential to hit a tipping point this century”.
He went of to add that “It is urgent that we place more focus on climate mitigation and adaptation with respect to these forests” as well as take a more balanced and integrated view of forests from across the planet.
Many countries should be concerned about the future of Boreal forests as they cover parts of Canada, Alaska, Russia and Scandinavia.
Dmitry Schepaschenko, a representative from the Austria International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis, gave a statement of his own warning that if warmer temperatures and climate change do manage to push Boreal forests to a tipping point, the change will most likely be very dramatic and happen very quickly.
He also explained that while Boreal forests remain largely intact for the time being, they’re also set to experience the most severe temperature increases on the face of the Earth. Schepaschenko informed that there are some areas of Siberia that are expected to become a lot warmer – temperatures will eventually increase by 11 degrees Celsius.
Should the change come to pass, it will bring greater precipitation to the area, however it will not be enough to make up for the dryness that the warmer temperatures would bring.
Bob Weber, member of The Canadian Press gave a statement informing that if the Boreal forests are allowed to become drier, they will suffer new diseases and new insect infestations, as well as vast wildfires.
The Boreal forests are also referred to by the Russian name sometimes – The Taiga. The landmark can be described as a chain of coniferous trees which spread across Eurasia and North America. These trees lye atop previously glaciated areas and are subjected to varying environmental conditions.
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Yuan Gong says
Boreal forests are lame anyway. Just log them, sell them and replant with oak.