How Temperate Forests Could Help Limit Climate Change
People understand how saving tropical forests is good for the planet, but temperate forests are equally indispensable in fighting climate change
Blue Ridge Parkway, Great Smoky Mountains National Park, North Carolina.
Itai MinovitzGetty Images
Much of the conservation and climate change spotlight falls on tropical forests. Given this, people might forget that forests in the temperate areas—those found in large parts of North America, Europe and higher latitudes in Asia and Australia—also have the power to help limit climate change. As much as preserving tropical rainforests is indispensable to climate progress, policy makers cannot ignore the critical role of temperate forests. This Earth Week, we must turn our attention—and dollars—to these swaths of trees, or face the loss of an important tool in managing global warming.
Temperate forests represent about 25 percent of Earth’s arboreal lands. As temperatures have changed, temperate trees face threats from of harmful invasive pests from other regions, loss of forest lands from urban sprawl and farmland expansion, and catastrophic wildfires that are becoming more common and severe. At the same time, they are some of the most well-studied and well-understood ecosystems on Earth—giving us a chance to put science into action in the service of climate progress.
To save temperate forests, we need to reduce land-clearing for housing and agriculture, then allow trees to regrow where they have been removed, and thoughtfully manage each acre to promote ecological health. To understand how reforestation and better management will aid in climate restoration, look to forest lands of the eastern U.S.
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