The forest

Equilibrium and climate change

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as of 2000, of global land cover was tree cover.

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of earth biodiversity is found in forests

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of the earth's oxygen is produced by the rainforest.

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is the increment in primary rainforest destruction from 2019 to 2020

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of global deforestation is commodity-driven.

There is a close interrelationship between climate change and forests. Forest loss and degradation are both; a cause and an effect of earth warming.

Air temperature, solar radiation, rainfall, and concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere affect forest productivity and dynamics. Forests, in turn, influence climate by removing and releasing large amounts of atmospheric carbon, absorbing or reflecting solar radiation (albedo), cooling through evapotranspiration, and contributing to cloud formation.

 

Fire has always been a natural part of forest life cycles, though human-influenced climate change is altering our ecosystems in ways that are totally new. Severe heat and drought fuel wildfires, not only are they becoming more frequent, but it also takes longer for the forest to recover from fires. If we don’t break the warming cycle, we expect more and worse wildfires in the years ahead.

Forests are a stabilising force for the climate

protect soils from erosion

 

Protect biodiversity

Play an integral part in the carbon cycle

Supply food, goods and services

 

HOW CARBON FLOW THROUGH FOREST

Forest are being burned and destroyed at an alarming rate

The principal causes of deforestation and severe forest degradation are agriculture, unsustainable forest management, mining, infrastructure projects and increased fire incidence and intensity.
Forests are destroyed to produce everyday products such as beef, palm oil and rubber. Illegal logging occurs in all types of forests across all continents are destroying nature and wildlife, taking away community livelihoods and distorting trade.
Each year, fires burn millions of hectares of forest worldwide. Fires are a part of nature, but degraded forests are particularly vulnerable. The resulting loss has wide-reaching consequences on biodiversity, climate, and the economy.

 

Source: www.panda.org

BOREAL FOREST

one of the world’s largest land biomes, are found across Siberia, Scandinavia, and North America (Alaska and Canada).

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Worldwide, the boreal zone covers 33% of Earth’s forested area. They play a vital role in Earth’s climate system by sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
boreal forests are one of the ecosystems most affected by climate change, with temperatures in the arctic and boreal domains recently warming at rates as high as 0.5°C per decade

 

TROPICAL MANGROVE FOREST

characterized by trees and shrubs that grow in salty or
brackish water,are found in the tropics and subtropics.

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Wetlands and mangroves are like ‘Ferraris’: specialized, fast and efficient; Unlike tropical rainforests, their growth rates are three times faster than rainforests, and they accumulate 10 to 100 times more carbon in the soil.
Its destruction rates are also higher than the rain forest, due to humans and climate change (sea-level rise, hurricanes and droughts)

TROPICAL FOREST

are common to areas near the equator, such as
Southeast Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Central America.

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Although they occupy less than 7% of the surface of the emerged lands, they contain more than 50% (according to some scientists this percentage would rise to more than 90%) of the world’s animal and plant species.
Deforestation and degradation of tropical forests account for roughly 10 percent of global greenhouse emissions from human activities.

By reducing forest loss, we can reduce carbon emissions and fight climate change.

The agriculture, forestry and land-use sectors account for about a quarter of all global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are the largest sources after cars, trucks, trains, planes and ships combined. As deforestation and forest degradation have such a significant impact on climate change, reducing forest loss can have multiple benefits for ecosystems and people.

 

Source: www.panda.org

Forest are part of the solution!

Halting the loss and degradation of forest ecosystems and promoting their restoration have the potential to contribute over one-third of the total climate change mitigation that scientists say is required by 2030 to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement.

What to do:

Combatting deforestation and forest degradation in areas of high biodiversity. Tropical forests have been one of Earth’s best defenses against rising carbon dioxide levels. Its degradation is debilitating this role.

Restoring forest landscapes helps enhance climate change mitigation and adaptation.

Community involvement in land-use decisions. Strengthen community control over forests, alleviate poverty, empower women and men, enhance biodiversity, and sustainably manage forests.

Unlocking forest benefits is critical to a sustainable and equitable supply of forest goods and services.

 

Source: www.iucn.org

About this website

Hi, I’m Andrea, a Graphic and Web designer based in Germany.

This website is part of my graduation Master’s degree project (Audiovisual Arts Computer), where my research question was:

“How can designers and visual communicators contribute to transmit scientific knowledge and facts to a non-expert public in an understandable and relevant way, to generate awareness, motivate reflection and behavioral change.”

You can see the paper here:

 Understanding climate change – Visual communication for scientific facts