Forests face the brunt of changes in the weather

March 04, 2020 / By mobanmarket

Forests face the brunt of changes in the weather

An increased likelihood of prolonged drought, extreme storms and flooding will pose a serious challenge for Europe’s forests.

With climate change comes unpredictable weather, and an increased likelihood of prolonged drought, extreme storms and flooding. That will pose a serious challenge for Europe’s forests. The risk of fire, which is already high in the Mediterranean region, will be greater; storms will be a problem in central Europe; and extreme rainfall will increase the risk of flooding in central and northern Europe.

Joanne Fitzgerald, a researcher at the European Forest Institute, says that the increased risk of forest fires is a good example of a changing climate. “The most serious threat in the Mediterranean zone is long dry spells. Climate models project that these will occur more often and last longer. Those spells will increase by over 15 days in southern Spain by the end of the century.”

At a United Nations climate summit in New York in September, national governments pledged to protect forests. One of the most important initiatives was launched by the United Kingdom, Norway and the United States. They pledged a combined €219 million (with the largest contribution coming from Norway) to protect forests from being turned into farmland, which is a major cause of deforestation.

The plan is managed by the BioCarbon Fund, a World Bank-led public-private sector initiative that focuses on land use. According to the World Bank, the new initiative will protect forests and secure supply chains. It could also stimulate renewed interest in the REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) scheme, which was launched in September 2008 to help developing countries achieve sustainable forest management.

Last month, the UK government announced financial support worth €175m for programmes aiming at encouraging businesses to combat deforestation in developing countries.

Justine Greening, the UK’s international development secretary, said that this money is needed as “climate change has the potential to halt or undo the progress we have made in the last two decades”.

Hannah Mowat, forests and climate campaigner at FERN, an NGO that monitors the EU’s work on forests, is sceptical if that amount of money will have a real impact, but is positive about the initiative. “The funds that the EU, and especially the UK, has spent on trying to improve forest governance via the EU’s forest law enforcement, governance and trade action plan, which tries to bring an element of good governance into the forest sector, is money that is leaving a legacy.”

Although there is no EU-wide forests policy, forests are mentioned in the Europe 2020 strategy, which states that forests should be managed sustainably and that action to combat deforestation at a global level should be strengthened. The European Commission last year called on the European Parliament and leaders of the member states to approve a policy framework that further co-ordinates forest-related policies in the member states.