It's not just the Amazon rainforest at risk
The world's much rarer temperate rainforests are threatened by climate change too
FOR many of us, rainforests are associated with jungle environments such as the Amazon; hot and humid climates far-removed from the temperate regions here in the Northern hemisphere.
Rare though they are, temperate rainforests do exist, including in the British Isles; strange as it might sound, many consider them to be at even greater risk than their tropical counterparts.
Indeed, according to a new study by scientists at the University of Leeds in West Yorkshire, up to two thirds of the world's temperate rainforests could fall victim to climate change by the year 2100. That's not a great start to the 22nd Century.
Temperate rainforests are restricted to areas with cool and moist climates. Countries which have temperate rainforests include Canada, USA, Chile, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK.
Despite covering less than 1% of the Earth's land surface, they are recognised for their global ecological importance and carbon storage properties. Intact temperate rainforests have higher carbon density than forests in other latitudes.
The study is said to be the first ever world-wide assessment of the impacts global over-heating is having on these rare eco-systems.
The scientists used maps of tree cover, forest condition, and climate data to assess how many of the world's temperate rainforests have already been hit by human activity. Going further, it loks at how climate change would push some regions to the brink.
“Unmitigated climate change is a disaster for temperate rainforest in the UK and globally, as they cannot survive the kinds of high summer temperatures which we are starting to observe more regularly, and are only predicted to worsen in future climate change simulations,” said Dr Ben Silver, a research fellow from Leeds University's School of Earth & Environment, who led the study.
“Our study also shows that if we work hard to slow climate change it is not too late to save the world’s temperate rainforests.
“We hope our study will support the conservation of temperate rainforests by identifying those areas that are the least or the most vulnerable to climate change, and where there is potential to restore forest.”
The results of the study were published in the journal Earth’s Future. Under the most pessimistic scenario, it found that 68% of the world’s temperate rainforest, and in some regions 90%, would be lost over the next few decades.
Under current commitments to reduce fossil fuel emissions, 23% of the world’s temperate rainforests will be lost. However, rapid action to halt fossil fuel emissions would reduce this loss to 9%. This highlights the “urgent need” to avert climate change, the scientists say.
Britain’s rainforests
In the UK, temperate rainforests are found along the western seaboard, including the West coast of Scotland, North and West Wales, Devon, Cornwall, Cumbria. and parts of Northern Ireland.
The Woodland Trust recognises temperate rainforests as a key conservation and restoration priority. According to the organisation, they are one of the most biodiverse habitats, with the high humidity and low temperature range creating the perfect conditions for moisture-loving lichens and bryophytes (mosses and liverworts).
Temperate rainforests now cover less than 1% of land in Great Britain and last year governments in both Scotland and England announced plans to restore them.
The study concludes that the UK has more potential for restoration than anywhere else in the world, as it hosts a quarter of the world’s unforested temperate rainforest climate zone. The study also found that UK rainforests are resilient to low and medium amounts of future warming.
“The UK could and should be a global leader in restoration of temperate rainforests,” said Dominick Spracklen, professor of biosphere-atmosphere interactions at Leeds, and co-author of the study. “New funding and bold action by large landowners are urgently needed to help deliver government targets for temperate rainforest restoration.”
Dr Dominick A DellaSala, chief scientist of the US group Wild Heritage, and a global authority on temperate rainforests, added: “All the world’s rainforests are the ‘lungs of the planet’ that must be protected and restored as natural climate solutions to avoid the worst of global overheating.
“Temperate rainforests need to take their place alongside tropical rainforests and the boreal forests of the north as strategically vital to a safe climate.”
MC