BANGALORE: Who might have thought that forests can ever pose a threat to global climate change. However, scientists at Indian Institute of Science (IISC) say that forests one of the major contributors to global climate change. According to their estimates, forests are contributing almost 20 per cent to the global greenhouse gases, far more than the contribution of transport.
Emissions of carbon dioxide are more from forests - around 20 per cent - compared to 13 per cent from transport, informs Ravindranath, a climate scientist at Centre for Sustainable Technologies, IISc. He says that our forests are virtually a ‘carbon landmine’.
He also said, “That means the greenhouse problem is going to get worse, not better, because fossil fuel emissions are also going up at the same time.” When asked to explain, Ravindranath said, “Forest soil stores the carbon in its layer. Even the dead trees and the fallen branches of trees add to the carbon stock of the soil.” “When there is deforestation, the carbon in the soil is released into the atmosphere, thereby contributing to global climate change.” He also said, “Even when trees are lost to forest fires or the wood is burnt, carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.” Ravindranath says that though the forest cover in India is intact, “due to massive deforestation the worldover, a large quantity of carbon is released into the atmosphere and this is incomparable to any other carbon emission.” The only way to mitigate this, he says, is to avoid deforestation and promote afforestation. Since forests store carbon, they act as the forest carbon sink.
“Forest carbon sinks must be used as primary means to fight climate change. But it is no panacea.
Effective climate change policy responses must focus on immediate massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and widespread adoption of renewable energy sources,” he added.