The forest and climate change has been quoted very often these days mainly because it has overall effected the whole global and has become very serious. People are more concerned with the global warming crisis. Forest is mainly known as the second largest ‘carbon sink’ after the sea. Carbon sinks which is known by definition as a carbon reservoir in order to remove the carbon from the atmosphere. While Kyoto protocol has allowed using carbon sink as a carbon’s offset.
When the deforestation taken place, there will be no more carbon sink and the place now become a source for the greenhouse gas emission that will cause the climate change and global warming. Those are the consequences of the released of the carbon that was held in the forest to atmosphere. It is happen when the trees are burned or slowly decayed in the forest. The climate change associate with the humankind’s activity. The Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC) reported in February 2007 that it is “very likely” (>90 percent) that heat-trapping emissions from human activities have caused “most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-20th century.” The IPCC based its projections of further climate change on six scenarios that assume various increases in concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The IPCC projects temperature increases by the end of the century in the range of ~2°F (1.1°C) to ~11.5°F (6.4°C) ( Union Concerned Scientist, 2007). These phenomena definitely will cause an increase in the Earth’s average surface temperature, extreme weather event and also shifting of the weather patterns (Roper. J, 2001). As what we can see on what’s happening to our weather today is extra ordinary. The temperature becomes warmer and warmer, huge flood and droughts, violent storm, typhoon and hurricane. All of this catastrophic are the results of warm ocean current.
A resource from the project of the Union of Concerned Scientist (2007), also showed how global warming can change the world. The rising up of world temperature, dramatically changing climate and heat in our cities are the consequence of this phenomenon. Effects of warming are apparent worldwide. For example, it has caused a reduction of the snow pack in northern latitudes, a melting of mountain glaciers, a thawing of the Arctic permafrost, and a shrinking of the polar ice caps. Due to this, the average sea level of the world's oceans has risen 10 to 20 cm in the last century and is expected to rise up to 90 cm more in the next 100 years. River deltas that are currently being farmed and estuaries that are now important wildlife habitats will be flooded and become saline, making them unsuitable for these uses. Warmer ocean temperatures will have an impact on marine life, affecting their abundance and distribution. For example, with rising ocean temperatures the range of the Pacific salmon is expected to shift dramatically northwards, resulting in serious economic implications for commercial fishing.
The short-term variations in global temperatures that are associated with atmospheric disturbances resulting from solar activity, geological events like volcanic eruptions, or temporary shifts in ocean currents like the recent influences of El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific Ocean. There was a previous history of the Earth’s climate of cycles period where the warmer period be followed by a cooler period. One of the most dramatic examples of this cycle in recent history was the last glaciations’ period some 10,000 years ago when the average global temperature was 5C to 7C lower than our present temperature. More recently, there was a warm period from 900 to 1200 AD that was followed by a cooler period from 1300 to 1900 AD ( Roper.J 2001). But what we are most concern today is that the present trend is not cyclical in nature. It seems to be a long term warming of the global climate. According to scientist and previous history since 1900, a definite warming trend has been detected to be distinct from its cyclical variation that the Earth has experienced for millennia. The climate change are causing other great impact to our world today. For examples of the impacts are such as:
Rising seas, retreating sea ice and thawing perma-frost erode coastlines.
Communities forced to relocate due to catastrophes.
Retreating sea ice reduce polar bear and seal’s habitat.
Heat waves increase in number, intensity and duration
Coastal land is lost, including species rich wetlands.
(Environmental Protection Agency 2007)
The effect of climate changes are likely to lead to shifts in species ranges of both plants and animals including human because plants and animals are sensitive to fluctuation in temperature and climate (Primack & Kunz 1996). The distribution of species is largely determined by climate, as the distribution of ecosystems and plant vegetation( Global Change 2004).
The Earth’s climate changing which is related to human growth population, resources and environmental degradation are in risk when the world's population continues to grow at an alarming rate with our numbers now exceeding six billion persons, a six-fold increase during the 20th century. According to data from World Bank and United Nations, the current 6.4 billion is projected to reach 7-14 billion people sometimes in this century. Man kinds are now at a critical point where they tend to use more resources due to survival challenge. For example logging activities where the forest land are being cleared up in order to build more houses and building. Despite the fact that most of the world's people still live in unacceptable levels of poverty, our collective wealth is growing and with it there is a corresponding increase in demand for natural resources, energy, food, and goods to consume. In the process, we discharge vast quantities of gases and effluents that change the atmosphere's composition and its capacity to regulate its temperature (Roper. J 2001)
The developing countries are now facing with the most critical environmental problem due to tropical deforestation. Most of these countries are suffering from a long term warming, catastrophic impact on biodiversity, economic opportunities lost, social problem and contribution to global warming. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations has estimated that the annual rates of deforestation in developing countries between 1980 and 1990 ranged from 13.7 million to 15.5 million hectares. With the clearing of forests on such a massive scale and the burning of most of the wood associated with them, there has been an enormous release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The above-ground biomass of tropical moist forests (those most subject to deforestation) is often more than 175 tonnes of carbon per hectare. When cleared and burned, much of this carbon ends up in the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Most of this loss in forest cover is the result of land clearing for agricultural use. Unlike forest fires that are burn and regenerate growth, deforestation destroys the forest as a "carbon reservoir" for the future because the land on which the trees grew is converted to other uses that have a lower carbon sequestration potential (Roper.J 2001). Besides of deforestation, agriculture, livestock waste, decompositions of wetlands and burning of biomass, application of fertilizer and incomplete burning of pasture and grassland are also contribute to build up of greenhouse gasses (Environmental Protection Agency 2007).
The conclusion is, in order to protect the health and economic well-being of current and future generations, we must reduce our emissions of heat-trapping gases by using the technology, know-how, and practical solutions already at our disposal. Practice a sustainable use of natural resources. Since Greenhouse gas emissions are a major contributor to global warming, there are a few steps that we can least do to help mitigate the Green House effect to our world. For examples, conserve the energy, avoid using CFC’s and Halons product, buy a fuel –efficient car and drive less often, re-use and recycle, and plants more trees.
References
Environmental Protection Agency. 2007. Climate change- Health and Environmental
Effect. Online.
http://epa/gov/climatechange/emissions/index.html#ggoGlobal Change 2004. Threats to Global Biodiversity. Online.
www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange2/current/lectures/Primack, R.B & Kunz, T.H.1996. The Biodiversity Crisis and Conservation Biology. In
Zainal, A., Zakri, A.H. & Zubaid, A.(eds). Conservation and Faunal Biodiversity
in Malaysia, pg 11-23. Penerbit Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi.
Roper, J. 2001. Forestry Issues. Tropical Forest and Climate Change.
http://www.rcfa-cfan.org/englisg/issues.13htmlUnion of Concerned Scientist. Global warming. Online
www.ucsusa.org/global_warming
