Old trees disappearing worldwide – More research and improved management needed

Old trees are among the oldest living organisms on our planet. There is something special about these old trees, not just because they harbor and sustain countless birds and other wildlife, but also because they are some sort of historic monuments, in natural sense, that is.

Sadly, these proud big trees are disappearing worldwide. In the recent scientific report that was published in the journal Science the researchers warned about alarming increase in death rates among trees aged 100-300 years. These trees are said to be dying in all corners of the world, in many of the world's forests, woodlands, savannahs, farming areas and even in many cities.

Many of the world's forests are affected with this serious environmental issue, and with many of the old trees disappearing from the face of this planet, there will be a massive damage to many of the forest ecosystems and many species could disappear in years to come, leading to even bigger global biodiversity loss.

The causes for this rapid loss of old trees are yet to be fully researched and understood. An urgent research is therefore necessity if we want to improve the management of these trees and halt future biodiversity loss in forests.

Big old trees are disappearing worldwide

The researchers are also calling for policy changes that would enable better protection of forest areas. The loss of large, old trees in many ecosystems is really a one-way ticket to an environmental disaster of massive proportions.

The main factors behind the ongoing disappearance of old trees are wildfires, drought, high temperatures and logging.

Professor Bill Laurance of James Cook University described the importance of this issue by saying that „we are talking about the loss of the biggest living organisms on the planet, of the largest flowering plants on the planet, of organisms that play a key role in regulating and enriching our world“. When explaining the vital functions that these trees provide Professor Laurance said that „these trees provide nesting or sheltering cavities for up to 30% of all birds and animals in some ecosystems. They store huge amounts of carbon. They recycle soil nutrients, create rich patches for other life to thrive in, and influence the flow of water within landscapes and the local climate as well as being the focal points for vegetation restoration; they help connect the landscape by acting as stepping stones for many animals that disperse seeds and pollen,.“

Deforestation 2012 quick facts

It is estimated that in 2012 deforestation should account for approximately 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions. As in previous years, most deforestation in 2012 took place in tropical rainforests.

The newest joint scientific work including Canadian and Dutch scientists says that the biggest cause of global deforestation is agriculture, which is responsible for approximately 80% of worldwide deforestation. The best example is Brazil where agriculture is actually the cause of almost all deforestation in Brazil, with 750,000 km² of forest being already gone, and 80% of previous forest being converted into grazing land for cattle.

The scientists estimate that global tropical deforestation will release 1.1 billion tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in 2012.

The Amazon rainforest still produces the most worrying effects of deforestation. This is because Amazon rainforest is the largest rainforest in the world, which plays key role in proper functioning of Earth's hydrological and climatological system.

The deforestation in Amazon isn't stopping because farmers continue to chop trees (slash and burn technique) in order to make room for their farms.

In the 2012, as well as throughout this last decade, two countries – Brazil and Indonesia were responsible for more than 50% of total greenhouse gas emissions from tropical deforestation.

The 2012 study by the UK scientists from Leeds says that deforestation leads to serious decrease in rainfall. They have calculated that the destruction of tropical forests would reduce rainfall across the Amazon basin by 21% in the dry season by 2050.

Our rainforests are major carbon sinkers. The 2012 study from U.S. scientists at Boston University says that tropical vegetation contains 21 percent more carbon than previously thought.

How to reduce global deforestation?

Reducing global deforestation is very important because of several different reasons. As many of you already know deforestation is big environmental issue in many tropical rainforests.

Tropical rainforests are not only areas of richest biodiversity on our planet but they also sink carbon from the atmosphere and therefore help reduce the global climate change impact.

The scientists have calculated that deforestation accounts for approximately 12% of global greenhouse gas emissions which is a significant percentage. Since most deforestation occurs in tropical rainforests world needs to reduce clearing of these forests in order to reduce total level of greenhouse gas emissions.

 Most tropical forests are located in developing countries and reducing poverty in these countries is definitely one of the best solutions to reduce global deforestation level. Why? Because the people that are involved in illegal logging are more interested in short-term profit than allowing the forest to remain.

Developed countries need to do lot more to protect tropical rainforests and one of the proposed solutions is that tropical countries get paid by developed countries if they retain or increase their tropical forests cover.

How much should tropical countries be paid for the retention of forests and what is the best mechanism to determine the total level of retention? The scientists believe that the solution lies in measuring the amount of carbon contained in natural forests. These measurements would be the perfect foundation for tropical countries to receive compensation from developed countries.

The protection of rainforests is also an important part of international climate talks, and for a new climate deal in which issues relating to the measurement of carbon in forests and soil are very high on the agenda.

Is hunting the biggest threat to tropical biodiversity?

Tropical ecologist Rhett Harrison wrote in his latest study that the hunting can today be considered as the biggest threat to tropical biodiversity. He argues that hunting and poaching are the two main reasons behind big decline in species that have their habitats in tropic area of the Amazon, Congo, Southeast Asia, and Oceana.

Excessive hunting and poaching leaves tropical forests "largely devoid of any mammal, bird, or reptile over a few pounds" and has general negative impact on entire ecosystems because it also make plants lose seed dispersers which disrupts entire food chain and leads to decline and extinction of many species.

Conservations like to mention the fact that 18 percent of the world's tropical forests are under some level of protection so that we could conclude that current conservation efforts have been quite successful. But Harrison believes conservation efforts are still inadequate because of excessive poaching and hunting in tropics.

This is especially the case with small protected areas that are not "equipped" with famous species such as jaguars and elephants, and are therefore very much neglected by conservationists as a low conservation priority areas despite being legally protected.

Poaching of big animals such as elephants and tigers always makes headlines while on the other hand smaller animals don't seem to get necessary media attention despite being equally important for the health of ecosystems just like the big animals.

Political support for conservation of tropical forests is often very limited, especially when it comes to adequate funding. There are also problems of poverty and corruption that make things much easier for poachers.

In the last couple of years bushmeat trade has expanded to many urban areas and once indigenous hunting has become anything but sustainable. And since the new roads are constantly being built for different industrial activities this will no doubt lead to even more hunting.

What can be done to protect tropical biodiversity? Harrison says that conservationists first must start thinking outside the box and realize that the success cannot be measured by the amount of land set aside as protected. Instead, the success of conservation should be "determined by effective enforcement in parks, intact wildlife communities, and the changes in abundance of high-target species."

How to ensure sustainable forest management?

Sustainable forest management is one of the prerequisites for our future wellbeing. Why? Because forests are areas with rich biodiversity that provide us with services and goods on which our wellbeing depends upon. Forests help regulate climate, supply health, energy and livelihood to our society.

Even despite the enormous importance of our forests thousands of hectares of forest are lost each year. Deforestation is the worst in Indonesia and Africa where tropical rainforests are disappearing at an alarming rate.

Our forests, especially rainforests, are together with our oceans the most important carbon sinkers, therefore very helpful in reducing the total climate change impact. The forest loss around the globe does not only mean less absorbed carbon emissions but is also releasing billions of tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere.

Current forest conservation efforts haven't been very successful and world needs to find quick solution(s) to preserve forests for our future generations. Among the proposed solutions are establishing more protected areas such as national and state parks, ensure better land-use planning and improve the current management of protected areas.

In order to give positive results all these solutions need big funding. By big funds I mean the tens of billions of dollars in the next decade because without such large funds we won't be able to halt the current forest loss.

The question that raises itself is how to ensure such a large-scale financing? The WWF believes that the solution for this may lie in forest bonds. Don Kanak, Advisor to WWF's Forest and Climate Initiative said that "we can't wait until the last tree has fallen to find this large-scale of finance. Forest bonds may be a promising way to close that short-term gap in financing so our forests don't slip away while we sort out how we're going to fund their long-term conservation."

The form of financing isn't as relevant as financing itself - the most important thing is to obtain the money for forests conservation, regardless of the finance tools used in the process.

Our forests need to be preserved at any cost. World has to do anything in its power to save the forest from disappearing. Our future may well depend on it.

Climate change impact on US forests

Forests not only absorb vast quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2), they also have other vital functions such as help retain rainwater and keep it from flowing down mountains immediately, not to mention the fact that they are areas of very rich biodiversity, and habitat for many plants and animals.

Climate change will no doubt have negative impact on all US forests but some forests will be more vulnerable to increased temperatures compared to others, and the most vulnerable forests in US will likely be the forests in Southwestern US. At least this is what the new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) says.

Park Williams, postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Geography at UC Santa Barbara, the lead author of this study, said that "forests in the Southwest are most sensitive to higher temperatures in the spring and summer, and those are the months that have been warming the fastest in this area."

In not just United States but in entire world it has been confirmed many times that higher temperatures lead not only to wildfires but also to insect outbreaks, for instance the well known bark beetle outbreak.

The researchers also predict that disappearing of forests will have have "large implications for everything from snowpack and the river flows that our society depends on, to the intensity and frequency of fires, to the visual appearance of these landscapes that drives much of the tourism in this region".

It will be very difficult to preserve the forests in the Southwest, and the forest managers should be already thinking about the possible strategies that would help these forests to at least up to some point adapt to climate change. Especially since saving forests means also saving many plants and animals that depend on these forests to survive.

Climate change impact on forests

Climate change will likely have devastating impact on our entire environment, and forests are no exception. Today we are worried by the massive deforestation in many parts of the world, and in years to come climate change will likely be the No.1 threat to forests on our planet.

Climate change will cause change is season lengths, summers will be much warmer and drier, and extreme weather events will also be more frequent, and thus doing more damage to our forests. Due to these factors, in many areas around the globe tree growth will experience severe decline, frequent droughts will increase the number of wildfires, and there will likely be more pests and diseases doing an extra damage.

Not all tree species will be able to adapt to these changes, and our forests will certainly look much different in future than they are looking now. Can we somehow help our forests to adapt to climate change?

Successful global forest management is the key to help our forests, but this success won't come easy. This is because forest managers first need to anticipate future climate changes in order to choose the best possible solution. With so many different factors involved in climate change, there is impossible to guarantee certainty of some future climate change prediction, meaning that lot of it will depend on luck.

Doing nothing is not the answer. It is better to try and fail than not doing nothing at all. But how can we help, and what should we do? Planting more trees is certainly something that can be helpful, but we must act right away because the trees we plant today will be reaching maturity in 50 to 100 years from now, and they'll be living in completely different climate.

We need our forests now, and we'll certainly need them in future so we have to do anything to protect them, and keep them for our future generations. Without our forests climate change impact would be far greater because they absorb huge quantities of carbon dioxide so we really have to protect them at any cost.

Tropical forest ecosystems under great threat

Tropical forests are areas of the richest biodiversity on our planet, and they hold around half of all the plants and animal species on Earth. There are however many negative effects that threaten tropical forests such as climate change and deforestation. The latest scientific report from Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology states that by 2100 only 18% to 45% of the plants and animals making up ecosystems in tropical forests may remain as we know them today. The others will likely perish into history books.

This research combined fresh deforestation and selective logging data with climate-change projections, and this is the first study to involve all these effects for tropical forest ecosystems.

This study could be of great help to conservationists because by pinpointing main negative impact they would be able to find the most effective solutions against it.

Greg Asner at the Carnegie Institution's Department of Global Ecology explained this by saying "For those areas of the globe projected to suffer most from climate change, land managers could focus their efforts on reducing the pressure from deforestation, thereby helping species adjust to climate change, or enhancing their ability to move in time to keep pace with it. On the flip side, regions of the world where deforestation is projected to have fewer effects from climate change could be targeted for restoration."

Climate change impact is becoming increasingly stronger, and many plant and animal species will have to adapt to survive. Failure to adapt will mean extinction, and we should at least try to create adequate conditions that would give these species decent chance to adapt and survive.

If we continue our current industrial policy that involves excessive greenhouse gas emissions conservationists will be very limited in their efforts to protect many plant and animal species from going extinct. The other big threat to tropical ecosystems is deforestation that is taking heavy toll in many areas around the globe (Africa, Indonesia, Amazon rainforest).

Tropical forest ecosystems will be mostly affected by climate change and deforestation because they are a home to so many plants and animals. The huge biodiversity loss is something that we must avoid at any price, and failure to do so could only result in one gigantic environmental disaster.

Planting forests to help the planet

Only one fifth of the world's forests remain, and current deforestation rates in some parts of the world threaten this small percentage to become even smaller. In many parts of the world trees are being cut without any sustainable management. This of course does great damage to our planet since forests, and especially rainforests play vital role in regulating earth's climate by sinking carbon emissions from the atmosphere. The more forests there is the bigger amount of carbon they would sink, and this would on global level significantly contribute in fight against climate change.

The latest study by the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), which includes the WWF, Britain's Forestry Commission and International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), said a billion hectares of former forests, equivalent to six percent of the world's total land area, could be restored, without affecting the global food supply.

The most forests could be restored in Africa where deforestation rates have been running loose last couple of decades. Among other places where lot of new trees could be planted are China, India, and Brazil. The areas that would be most suitable for planting new trees is agricultural land with very low productivity.

It is difficult to tell whether deforestation will be high on agenda at the climate summit in Copenhagen. It should definitely be since is estimated that 30 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation and agriculture. Each new tree can help our planet becoming more green, and prevent the worst of climate change.

Why are forests and rainforests so important to humanity?

Forests and rainforests around the world are still disappearing at an alarming rate, and in general very little has been done to prevent deforestation in developing countries. World seems to be constantly forgetting how important forests and rainforests really are, and so rapid deforestation continues in many parts of the world.

Many people are not aware that forests play extremely important role in regulating climate, and because of their carbon-sinking ability they act as natural weapon against climate change. Currently, rainforests absorb around 20 percent of the total CO2 emissions every year, but sadly heavy deforestation is also releasing an extra 17 percent of CO2 emissions each year. Deforestation has really become large source of CO2 emissions, in fact it is the third biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions so it is really no wonder that many environmentalists describe deforestation as "one of the biggest threat to the global climate".

Deforestation is worst in Africa, Amazon, and Indonesia. For instance if current rates of deforestation are about to continue in Amazon in years to come, more than half of the Amazon rainforest will be lost in the next 25 years. The last thing world needs in fight against climate change is deforestation, what we really need is reforestation, and rich countries should really ensure funds for reforestation in poor countries.

Deforestation is taking heavy toll in Amazon rainforest. If current rates of deforestation continue in less than 25 years more than half of the Amazon rainforest will disappear.

Global climate deal looks to be couple of months away but still there are not enough talks about rainforests and forests protection. CO2 emissions that origin from deforestation are not negligent and should be really treated the same as industrial CO2 emissions. The solution for climate change is not only clean energy sector but also to stop deforestation and ensure funds for reforestation. Let me remind you that forests are not only nature's weapon against climate change, they also store water, regulate rainfall and not to mention how they provide a home to over half of the planet’s biodiversity.

By destroying rainforests and forests we are really heading towards one very bleak future - future in which humanity could pay extremely high price for not caring enough for our planet. The only question that remains to be answered is "how much of our abuse can our planet still take?"

Forests on Cyprus - Droughts and fires problem

Not so long ago Cyprus was known as the "Green Island" of the Mediterranean but today forests cover less than 50% of Cyprus. Cyprus forests are disappearing at very fast pace, not only because of deforestation, but mostly because of droughts and fires. In some part of Cyprus land is so dry that even despite seemingly enough rain forests are still drying up. Numbers of trees with dry branches have reached critical level so it is really no surprise that Cyprus's forestry department recently set up a two-year action plan for 2009-2010 that should include the installation of irrigation systems to make the most of any rainfall.

And as in many other parts of the world, the less forests means of course less habitats for species that live in these forests. Cyprus is no exception, and environmentalists are already warning about significant drop in wildlife that usually inhabits these forests. Not only trees but also animals are in need of water, and forestry department has even started placing water stations around the forests to help the animals remain in their natural habitat.

Drought and fires are big threat to forests on Cyprus

And once climate change impact becomes even stronger with higher temperatures things could become much worse, especially to trees in mountain regions that have adapted to colder climates, and environmentalists are already warning that invasive species such as Acacia could be fast spreading around the island.

If the rain continues many hope that situation should significantly improve next year. However a good action plan that would ensure proper use of rain water in years to come is still a "must thing" for survival of forests on Cyprus.

Wildfires threaten tropical forests

Scientists predict that as global warming will certainly strengthen its impact in years to come so will tropical forests become more vulnerable to wildfires. As greenhouse gases emissions continue to rise so will temperatures that will and this could according to Chris Field, co-chair of the UN's Nobel prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change turn "damp and humid forests into tinderboxes".

According to Field tropical areas will particularly feel the heat of global warming, and higher temperatures in these areas are very likely to have a dramatic impact on the environment. In the worst possible scenario if the regions actually become dry enough for fires to start, tropical forests will pass a so called "tipping point" from absorbing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to releasing it.

Wildfires are likely to threaten tropical forests in years to come

Tropical forests are currently humid areas, and wildfires seem currently highly unlikely but if they dry out just a little, the result can be very large and destructive wildfires creating one total environmental disaster. And the worst thing is that this scary scenario looks to be real thing in years to come...

Tropical forests regrowth - Interesting facts

The world's tropical forests are making a very slow comeback because only 1,7 percent of rainforests that were cut down by humans is coming back, approximately around 135,000 square miles (350,000 square kilometers) of the originally forested areas. Though it doesn't take very long for shady forest canopy to grow (some 15 years or so) young vegetation doesn't have adequate ability to sustain such rich biodiversity or sink as many carbon dioxide as old rainforests can.

So far we managed to destroy about half of the original tropical forests on our planet.

Many would say it is better to have young rainforests than none whatsoever, and this is really true, but young rainforests simply do not have enough to cope with either the rich biodiversity or to absorb large quantities of CO2 as the old rainforests can. These are the main reasons why we have to cut current horrific deforestation rate around the world. Every year about 32 million acres (13 million hectares) of rainforests get chopped, we are talking here about an area of 50 football fields each minute, so it is no wonder that until today we managed to destroy about half of the original tropical forests on the planet.

How to save our forests?

One thing is sure - we need to save our forests because they play extremely important role against global warming by sinking carbon. But the question is how? How to save our forests and reduce alarming deforestation rate in many countries worldwide? The current solution looks to be big funding by rich countries that will pay for protection of forests. In theory this idea looks more than welcome but in practice there are some problems worth mentioning.

First of all if you have combination of big funds and politicians it is very logically to expect corruption as money could very easily end up in pockets of corrupted politicians rather than to be used for protection of forests. Therefore it is vital to make many different institutional and law reforms with much stricter control and transparency so that we could always know where this money is actually going.

Illegal logging is still big problem in many parts of the world, and in some areas illegal loggers are even closely connected to many politicians that get their share of profit for looking to other side. Illegal logging will be a very difficult mission because some of these organizations are extremely powerful with extremely strong political connections.

Saving our forests is one of many steps needed to stop global warming and climate change

Food is also the big problem in global efforts to stop deforestation because population is significantly increasing in many countries, more population needs more food, and many forests are being destroyed to make rooms for farms. Increased food price and higher profits are also pushing many farmers to expand their farms.

As you can see there are many different problems that needs to be solved in order to make this "pay for protection" idea successful. Otherwise there will be lot of funding, and money will end up God knows where. Deforestation is serious problem that definitely needs to be stopped but this problem has a number of "smaller problems" that need to be solved before if we want success on global level.

However rich countries must not think of forest funding as a way to pay their way out of reducing emissions, reducing deforestation is only one of many steps needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. World simply needs to act as soon as possible, not only to save our forest but to save our entire planet.

Forest funding - Good idea but...

Global warming caused by man-made greenhouse gas emissions has become serious ecological problem. Infamous Kyoto protocol failed in its intention to decrease greenhouse gas emissions and now new solution is required. This solution could be the forest funding that should put an end to uncontrolled deforestation and save our forests. Britain and Norway already invested £108m to a fund to protect forests in the Congo basin and that is the initiative this world needs. However something else must be done too, namely to ensure that these huge fonds get in right hands.


Funds itself won't be sufficient, there is also many changes that need to be done before we can talk about successful project. Many institutional and policy reforms are needed to ensure success of this project, and special emphasis must be on forest property rights. These changes must ensure that money won't end up in central government officials, of which many are closely tied to illegal logging and mining activities. Giving money directly to local groups seems to be more effective, of course if they are prior given clear land rights. There were some examples in Mexico and Brazil that showed more success when local communities were running the forest protection projects.

Deforestation causes about a fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions

The cause is just - sending money to save the forests, but there is a lot of work ahead to ensure that billions will end up in the right hands. One thing is sure though - deforestation that causes about a fifth of man-made greenhouse gas emissions is a huge problem that needs to be dealt with, and that can't be done without the huge funds from rich countries. It is not just enough to give the money, it is equally important to ensure that this money fulfills its purpose, namely to significantly cut down deforestation rate in many developing countries. Hopefully, both funding as well as funding control will be on required level because without it our forests will not survive.

Forests - Nature's answer to global warming

As many of you already know cutting down our fossil fuels emissions is the necessary step in fight against global warming. But forests can also play vital role in this fight and is therefore vital to preserve our existing forests and plant new ones since forests have nature ability to act as a carbon sink and can slow down increase of CO2 emission into the atmosphere.

According to the study that was carried by scientists from Wageningen University in Netherlands large-scale forest plantations could have a significant effect on climate change in the longer term and even the most conservative estimations suggest that the cumulative sequestration potential up to 2100 can compensate for 5-7% of energy and industry related CO₂ emissions.

However there isn't enough available land to plant new forests mostly because all available land gets turned to agricultural land. There is also serious deforestation in many parts of the world (Amazon rainforest) also mostly because need for more agricultural land which isn't helping cause either. Forests that are most effective as carbon sinks are tropical rainforests and they should be preserved at any cost, especially the large ones like Amazon rainforest.

And although trees may seem as an ideal solution things won't be that easy since study also suggests how "the potential for the coming decades is limited due to the limited amount of available land and the long period needed to compensate for emissions related to the establishment of the plantations and the net sequestration up to 2020 is limited, given the short-term increased need for agricultural land and the long period needed to compensate for emissions through plantation establishment."

And though short-term potential may be indeed limited long-term potential shouldn't be questionable, of course if we preserve our existing forests (especially tropical rainforests) and plant new forests if we really want to slow down the rapid increase of CO2 in the atmosphere. However with current rates of deforestation in many parts in the world, this looks to be very unlikely scenario.

Rainforests are particularly important in fight against global warming