While the oceans are considered to be the true lungs of the planet because they are the ones that produce most of the oxygen we breathe, specifically 50%, forest ecosystems, are called green lungs, for their ability to absorb large amounts of CO2 and provide oxygen.
And it is that trees absorb both the carbon dioxide that we exhale, and Greenhouse gasesthat emit human activities and that increase the temperature of the planet. That is why the role of forests is crucial in the mitigation of climate change by acting as carbon sinks.
Status of forests in the world
Deforestation has become an enemy of great proportions for forest ecosystems throughout the planet. According to the latest report published by the FAO “The state of the forests of the world 2024” cover approximately 31% of the earth’s surface.
While it is true that between 2010 and 2020, the global deforestation rate showed a slight decrease, around 10 million hectares of forest were still lost annually due to climate -related stress factors and the increase in demand for forest products.
According to the report, today the situation related to deforestation vary according to the area of the world of which it is talk. While some countries have significantly reduce deforestation, applying conservation and reforestation policies, others continue to face great challenges to stop forest loss.
In fact, the rhythm with which the deforestation of large forested areas is undertaken continues to be alarming, especially in tropical regions such as the Amazon, the Congo and the Southeast Asia. Every year, millions of hectares of forest are lost due to activities such as agriculture, illegal felling, mining and urban expansion.
Amazon, Congo and Southeast Asia
The Amazon, the largest tropical forest, remains a critical point of deforestation. In Brazil, illegal felling and conversion of land for livestock and agriculture (especially soybeans), are the main causes of forest loss. The tropical forest of the Congo, the second largest in the world, faces similar challenges. Commercial logging, subsistence agriculture and armed conflicts contribute to their deforestation and degradation.
In Southeast Asia, the expansion of palm and rubber plantations has led to the loss of large tropical forest areas. Are talled to produce palm oil,that can be found in all kinds of products, From shampoo to salty cookiesAnd although social rejection of this product has increased in recent years, deforestation continues.
The situation in Spain
Spain records one of the largest recovery rates in the forest, but at the same time, it is one of the most vulnerable countries to the desertification of the European continent.
According to the Ministry for Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, wide areas of our Geography are potentially affected by this process. More than two thirds of the Spanish territory belong to the categories of arid, semi -arid and subhummed dry areas. That is, they are in high or very tall irrigation to become a desert in just a few years.
To this circumstance, the deforestation caused by forest fires that, although in 2023 it did not show especially serious figures, with 80,000 hectares of burned land, the previous year 2022, was dramatic because 310,000 hectares burned or what is the same, 40% of the entire surface burned in the European Union were not yet, in 2023.
Reforestation projects, the Naturgy forest
With the aim of helping to alleviate the effects of desertification, both the different governments and other private institutions and companies come, undertaking reforestation projects to repopulate surfaces damaged by fires or other causes that had ended with thousands of ha of our forests.
The Naturgy forest is an initiative of the energy company, to recover degraded areas in different places of Spanish geography, through its reforestation. Its strategy focuses on the absorption and compensation of emissions on projects that generate a net creation of natural capital and suppose a positive impact on the population of the area and for this they have the international FSC certification, which guarantees the management of the forest with criteria of biodiversity and benefits for the local population.
5 effects of climate change in forests
– Climate change is making forests more vulnerable to stress factors such as forest fires and pests.
–The intensity and frequency of forest fires are increasing.
–Almost a quarter of carbon dioxide emissions due to forest fires in 2021 originated in boreal forests.
–It is estimated that in 2023 the fires issued 6,687 megatonos of carbon dioxide worldwide, which is more than double the CO2 emissions of the European Union caused by the burning of fossil fuels in the same year.
–It is calculated that 60% of emerging infectious diseases They come from animals and one of the main causes of the jump of wildlife viruses to humans is the loss of habitat, often caused by deforestation.