Deforestation and climate change
[3] Land use change, especially in the form of deforestation, is the second largest source of carbon dioxide emissions from human activities, after the burning of fossil fuels.
[4][5] Greenhouse gases are emitted from deforestation during the burning of forest biomass and decomposition of remaining plant material and soil carbon.
Some of the effects of climate change, such as more wildfires,[9] invasive species, and more extreme weather events can lead to more forest loss.
[19] By contrast, "boreal forests show divergent local patterns with an average increasing trend in resilience, probably benefiting from warming and CO2 fertilization, which may outweigh the adverse effects of climate change".
Carbon-centric metrics are inadequate because biophysical mechanisms other than CO2 impacts are important, especially the much higher albedo of bare high-latitude ground vis-à-vis intact forest.
[35] Modeling studies have concluded that there are two crucial moments that can lead to devastating effects in the Amazon rainforest which are increase in temperature by 4 °C or 7.2 °F and deforestation reaching a level of 40%.
In 3% of the Amazon, fire return intervals are already shorter than the time required for grass exclusion by canopy recovery, implying a high risk of irreversible shifts to a fire‐maintained degraded forest grassy state.
[51] Therefore, scientists consider "the protection and recovery of carbon-rich and long-lived ecosystems, especially natural forests" to be "the major climate solution".
Earth offers enough room to plant an additional 0.9 billion ha of tree canopy cover, although this estimate has been criticized,[56][57] and the true area that has a net cooling effect on the climate when accounting for biophysical feedbacks like albedo is 20-80% lower.
[59] Life expectancy of forests varies throughout the world, influenced by tree species, site conditions, and natural disturbance patterns.
A meta-analysis found that mixed species plantations would increase carbon storage alongside other benefits of diversifying planted forests.
[88][89] This change in climate has drastic ecological and global impacts including increases in severity and frequency of fires, and disruption in the pollination process that will likely spread beyond the area of deforestation.
[101][102] One of the key elements of The Bali Action Plan involves a concerted effort by the member countries of the Kyoto Protocol to enact and create policy approaches that incentivize emissions reduction caused by deforestation and forest degradation in the developing world.
This coupled with the increased attention to carbon emission stocks as a way to provide additional resource flows to the developing countries.
Only one year later in 2008, the campaign's objective was raised to 7 billion trees—a target to be met by the climate change conference that was held in Copenhagen, Denmark in December 2009.
In December 2011, after more than 12 billion trees had been planted, UNEP formally handed management of the program over to the not-for-profit Plant-for-the-Planet initiative, based in Munich, Germany.
[105] The Amazon Fund (in Portuguese: Fundo Amazônia) is an initiative created by the Brazilian Government and managed by the National Bank for Economic and Social Development (BNDES).
It was established on 1 August 2008, with the aim of attracting donations for non-reimbursable investments in actions for the prevention, monitoring, and combat of deforestation, and for the promotion of conservation and sustainable use of the Amazon rainforest.
[106] Additionally, the fund supports the development of monitoring and control systems for deforestation in the rest of Brazil and in other tropical countries.
The projects supported by the fund must be aligned with applicable public policies and the guidelines and criteria, in addition to demonstrating their direct or indirect contribution to the reduction of deforestation and forest degradation.
Various types of entities can submit projects for funding, including public administration bodies, NGOs, private companies, cooperatives, and research institutions.
