21 Mar 2024
Forests are considered the number one climate mitigator. However, the health of many forests is threatened by global warming. Prof Dr Julia Pongratz explains what this means for climate action in an interview with SWR on International Day of Forests.
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It is not easy to quantify the forest and its carbon fluxes. In tropical regions, for example, the rainforest is turning from a CO2 sink into a CO2 source through deforestation. The Global North is largely responsible for this deforestation. Large areas of rainforest are cleared for the cultivation of soya, which is then exported to China or Europe. However, this does not currently appear in the climate record of the countries of the global North, but is instead included in the minus account of the rainforest countries. This is one of the reasons why Prof Dr Julia Pongratz is working on a better and fairer recording of carbon fluxes worldwide. She contributed to the chapter on the global carbon cycle in the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Afforestation currently binds two billion tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. However, more than 40 billion tonnes of CO2 are emitted into the air globally every year. Global decarbonisation is therefore a prerequisite for forests to be able to compensate for our residual greenhouse gases.“Forests not only serve as carbon storage, but also provide clean air, cooling, clean water, heavy rain retention and recreation. Its services are actually so valuable, they are not measurable.” emphasises Julia Pongratz.
For more information, see the SWR article from March 21, 2024