The latest project from the Petawawa Research Forest

The latest project from the Petawawa Research Forest (PRF) investigates how to incorporate climate change adaptation into forest management practices. Similar studies have been carried out at the state of the art Marcell Experimental Forest in Minnesota. Such deep dives into the mysteries of forests have revealed just how at risk various regions are to climate change and have shown how warmed ecosystems will cease absorbing carbon and begin emitting it. It is clear that forests are a critical tool in the climate fight. Along with the well-documented work into the role forests play in carbon absorption, new research has found that global forest-cover combines to keep the earth at least 0.5°C cooler, and thus is key in preventing warming related disasters like storms, droughts, and floods. Yet learning how forests should be used, the central focus of the Oxfordshire study, remains a complicated question. Analysis from 2020 found that “better land stewardship is needed to achieve the Paris agreement's temperature goal, particularly in the tropics,” where deforestation in virgin forests — from small-scale ranching ventures in the Amazon to industrial palm oil harvesting in Indonesia — continues to reduce carbon absorption capacity. But a study released last month warned that the pledge to reduce emissions by halting deforestation, agreed to at the COP26 climate conference in October, ignores the day-to-day reality of “hundreds of millions of people in the Global South who rely on the harvesting of trees from natural forests for their income and energy.”