Ecologists point to forests as important sinks for atmospheric
carbon. But a new report suggests that climate change could
induce environmental stresses that would chnge the role of
forests into a net carbon source. The report, titled “Adaptation
of Forests and People to Climate Change – A Global Assessment,”
was coordinated by the International Union of Forest Research
Organizations (IUFRO) and the Collaborative Partnership on
Forests (CPF). The findings came from an analysis of how
different forest ecosystems worldwide would be affected under
specific climate change scenarios developed by the IPCC report.
The report brings together 35 international forest scientists,
some of whom contributed to the IPCC. The study reports that
higher temperatures would usher in the probability of prolonged
droughts, more intense pest invasions, and a host of other
environmental stresses, which would lead to forest destruction
and degradation. Climate change could thus create a dangerous
feedback loop in which damage to fore