Why tropical forests under threat in next decade

In other words a forest is a piece of land with many trees. Many animals need forests to live and survive. Forests are very important and grow in many places around the world. They are an ecosystem which includes many plants and animals

According to the widely used Food and Agriculture Organisation definition, forests covered 4 billion hectares   or approximately 30 per cent of the world's land area in 2006.  

Forests are the dominant terrestrial ecosystem of Earth, and are distributed around the globe.  Forests account for 75 per cent of the gross primary production of the Earth's biosphere, and contain 80 per cent of the Earth's plant biomass.  

Human society and forests influence each other in both positive and negative ways.  Forests provide ecosystem services to humans and serve as tourist attractions. Forests can also affect people's health. Human activities, including harvesting forest resources, can negatively affect forest ecosystems.

Tropical forests are forested landscapes in tropical regions. Some categories of tropical forest types are difficult.   There is no single scheme that defines what a forest is, in tropical regions or elsewhere.  Because of these difficulties, information on the extent of tropical forests varies between sources. However, Tropical Forests are extensive, making up just under half the world’s forests. They are also cool, humid and full of rain.

Tropical forests can develop resistance to a warmer climate, but 71 per cent will come under threat in the next decade if global average temperatures reach two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a new study warns.

Forest-dependent communities and the global climate will be affected if tropical forests are further degraded, experts say. Led by scientists at the University of Leeds and published in Science, the study involved 226 researchers from around the world.  

Sustainable development in tropical regions will be directly impacted if the biodiversity of tropical forests is altered by rising temperatures and they lose their ability to absorb carbon, says Luiz Aragão, head of the remote sensing division at Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research and a co-author of the study.

The resilience potential of forests can only be achieved with proper climate change mitigation and solutions for the conservation and restoration of native vegetation, the researchers say.

“The results suggest that intact forests can withstand heating to some extent,” but for this to happen it is vital that forests remain intact, agronomist and study co-author Simone Aparecida Vieira, from the Centre for Environmental Studies and Research at São Paulo’s University of Campinas (Unicamp), tells SciDev.Net.

This requires reducing deforestation rates and the frequent fires associated with forest clearing, as well as mining, illegal logging and intensive low-productivity livestock farming.

But, the research offers a good starting point to deepen knowledge about forests’ abilities to adapt to climate change. The findings presented in the survey are encouraging because they show that forests do indeed have a certain resilience to warming. And this has been shown based on robust mathematical modeling. However, more research is necessary to understand how rising temperatures impact different plant species.

It is important, therefore, that we identify which species are most resistant so that more effective reforestation actions can be put into practice.