Their opponents argue that trees need time to grow again and soil needs time to store carbon again. Forestry “reduces the total amount of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems”, leading to a decline in wild flora and fauna.
Companies making money from the use of wood provided a report with the conclusion that the impact of human destruction of forests is no greater than that of the rotting of old trees or the use of plastic as an alternative to biomaterial, writes Bloomberg.
According to the report, industrial destruction of forests has a much smaller impact on the environment than the use of plastic materials instead of wood. In addition, the best solution for the climate is not a ban on cutting down, but the replacement of old trees with young trees, since a dying tree does not absorb, but emits carbon into the atmosphere, reports lenta.ru.
Elin Gotmark, a representative of the Swedish non-governmental organization for the protection of forests (Protect the Forest), does not agree with the arguments of forest industry entrepreneurs and believes that trees need time to grow again, and soil needs time to accumulate carbon again. Forestry “reduces the total amount of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems,” Gotmark emphasized.
The authors of the State of the World’s Forests report, prepared by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) together with the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), note that over the past three decades, the rate of deforestation has slowed, but despite this, since 1990 About 420 million hectares of forest were lost. But it is forests that account for the bulk of the planet’s terrestrial biodiversity: 60 thousand different species of plants and trees, 80 percent of all amphibian species, 75 percent of bird species and 68 percent of mammal species. The disappearance of forests is leading to the extinction of many wild species of flora and fauna, the UN press service reports.
“To reverse deforestation and biodiversity loss, we need to rethink our food production and consumption patterns,” said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu. He called for the conservation of forests and the restoration of cut-down areas. Efforts in this direction have already borne fruit. The largest increase in protected forest areas has occurred in broadleaf evergreen forests, those typically found in tropical zones.
During the UN climate change conference COP26, more than a hundred government leaders committed to strengthening the fight against global deforestation. The organizers of the summit in Glasgow reported that according to the relevant declaration adopted on November 2, 2021, deforestation should be stopped by 2030 as part of the fight against global warming.
The Declaration was supported by more than one hundred countries, which account for over 85 percent of the world’s forests, including the boreal coniferous forests (taiga) of Canada, the Amazon rainforests of Brazil, and the tropical rainforests of the Congo Basin. The agreement involves the allocation of about 20 billion dollars (17 billion euros), part of these funds will be used to fight forest fires and restore already damaged forest areas.
It is worth noting that today forests account for more than 86 million green jobs. Of all those living in extreme poverty, over 90 percent survive on wild forest products. In Latin America alone, the lives of eight million poor people depend on the health of forests.
According to current estimates, Russia contains more than 20% of the entire planet’s forests, valued in the range of $4 to $17 trillion, which even at the lower end is comparable to the value of Russian oil reserves ($6.4 trillion), the report says. The absorption capacity of Russian forests could reach 1.8-2.2 billion tons of CO2 equivalent per year. With 20-40% of the value of the world’s forests, Russia can take a leadership position in the international climate agenda.