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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #50 on: March 23, 2015, 03:28:04 PM »
The linked National Geographic article reminds us that the pine beetle epidemic is continuing in North American forests; which also increases the risk of northern wildfires/forest-fires that can decrease the Arctic albedo due to black and brown carbon emissions:

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2015/04/pine-beetles/rosner-text
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #51 on: March 23, 2015, 03:43:09 PM »
The linked article discusses a UN initiative to promote reforestation (least hope that it can keep pace with the rate of natural forest loss around the world):

http://www.rtcc.org/2015/03/23/countries-reveal-progress-on-2020-forest-restoration-challenge/
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #52 on: March 25, 2015, 04:06:01 PM »
The linked article states that wildfires are out of control in Chile, and we should all remember that this radiative forcing associated with wildfires (whether in the NH or the SH) are not included in the AR5 projections:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-32045870
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #53 on: March 26, 2015, 03:41:00 PM »
It is rather sad to think about how many forests around the world will be lost to sea level rise (the Sundarbans forest in Bangladesh is just one example):

http://www.dw.de/rising-sea-levels-threaten-sundarbans-forests/a-18342772
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #54 on: March 30, 2015, 10:56:15 PM »
Per the linked reference, climate change induced droughts will cause widespread loss of forests by 2050, in the USA:

William R. L. Anderegg, Alan Flint, Cho-ying Huang, Lorraine Flint, Joseph A. Berry, Frank W. Davis, John S. Sperry & Christopher B. Field  (2015), "Tree mortality predicted from drought-induced vascular damage", Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo2400


http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ngeo2400.html


Abstract: "The projected responses of forest ecosystems to warming and drying associated with twenty-first-century climate change vary widely from resiliency to widespread tree mortality. Current vegetation models lack the ability to account for mortality of overstorey trees during extreme drought owing to uncertainties in mechanisms and thresholds causing mortality. Here we assess the causes of tree mortality, using field measurements of branch hydraulic conductivity during ongoing mortality in Populus tremuloides in the southwestern United States and a detailed plant hydraulics model. We identify a lethal plant water stress threshold that corresponds with a loss of vascular transport capacity from air entry into the xylem. We then use this hydraulic-based threshold to simulate forest dieback during historical drought, and compare predictions against three independent mortality data sets. The hydraulic threshold predicted with 75% accuracy regional patterns of tree mortality as found in field plots and mortality maps derived from Landsat imagery. In a high-emissions scenario, climate models project that drought stress will exceed the observed mortality threshold in the southwestern United States by the 2050s. Our approach provides a powerful and tractable way of incorporating tree mortality into vegetation models to resolve uncertainty over the fate of forest ecosystems in a changing climate."
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Laurent

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #55 on: March 31, 2015, 06:40:04 PM »

AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #56 on: April 02, 2015, 06:07:44 PM »
The linked article (and associated attached image) demonstrates that the boreal forest coverage losses have been particularly high in Canada and Russia in the past three years.

http://blog.globalforestwatch.org/2015/04/tree-cover-loss-spikes-in-russia-and-canada-remains-high-globally/


See also:
http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/04/02/3641546/wri-forests-report-canada-russia-deforestation/

“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #57 on: April 04, 2015, 11:33:00 AM »
The linked reference uses NASA satellite images (see attached image of evapotranspiration) shows that deforestation is changing regional climate due to changes in albedo & evapotranspiration.

Yan Li, Maosheng Zhao, Safa Motesharrei, Qiaozhen Mu, Eugenia Kalnay and Shuangcheng Li (2015), "Local cooling and warming effects of forests based on satellite observations", Nature Communications doi:10.1038/ncomms7603 .

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150325/ncomms7603/full/ncomms7603.html


Abstract: "The biophysical effects of forests on climate have been extensively studied with climate models. However, models cannot accurately reproduce local climate effects due to their coarse spatial resolution and uncertainties, and field observations are valuable but often insufficient due to their limited coverage. Here we present new evidence acquired from global satellite data to analyse the biophysical effects of forests on local climate. Results show that tropical forests have a strong cooling effect throughout the year; temperate forests show moderate cooling in summer and moderate warming in winter with net cooling annually; and boreal forests have strong warming in winter and moderate cooling in summer with net warming annually. The spatiotemporal cooling or warming effects are mainly driven by the two competing biophysical effects, evapotranspiration and albedo, which in turn are strongly influenced by rainfall and snow. Implications of our satellite-based study could be useful for informing local forestry policies."
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
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johnm33

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #58 on: April 05, 2015, 12:11:36 PM »
Biotic pump
"Native species that form natural forest communities have evolved a complex set of genetically encoded biophysical and morphological traits that make the biotic pump possible. These traits took hundred million of years to evolve. For example, the root system of forest trees facilitates both storage and extraction of moisture from soil; biogenic aerosols produced by trees control the intensity of water vapor condensation over the forest; the large height of trees determines the vertical temperature gradient under the canopy, keeping soil evaporation under biotic control; tall trees are also essential for surface friction that does not allow extremely high wind velocities to develop. Thus, natural forests not only create an ocean-to-land moist air flow, but also stabilize this flow at an optimum level and prevent its extreme fluctuations like hurricanes, tornadoes, severe droughts or floods. Species other than plants (bacteria, fungi, animals) are essential for the stability of the forest ecosystem itself."
 from http://news.mongabay.com/2012/0201-hance_interview_bioticpump.html



AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #59 on: April 09, 2015, 07:00:48 PM »
The linked report indicates that with regard to climate change, the forest degradation problem is about as bad as the deforestation problem (see attached image):

http://www.pcfisu.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Princes-Charities-International-Sustainability-Unit-Tropical-Forests-A-Review.pdf

See also:

http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/04/forest-degradation-as-bad-for-climate-as-deforestation,-says-report/
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
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Laurent

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #60 on: April 19, 2015, 06:09:43 PM »

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #61 on: April 21, 2015, 05:08:58 PM »
The global forest index is reducing day by day as the ratio of plantation to deforestation is very small there is a vast difference between both
http://www.globalforestwatch.org/countries

AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #62 on: April 22, 2015, 05:26:35 PM »
As the Global Forest Watch program delivers status reports that are over one year old, per the linked Wired article (see also extract below): "Orbital Insight, founded by former Google and NASA robotics and artificial intelligence expert James Crawford, plans to collect satellite imagery of tropical forests to track changes over time."

http://www.wired.com/2015/04/using-smart-satellites-to-monitor-deforestation-from-space/

Extract: "An estimated 46 to 58 thousand square miles of forest are cut each year. At the current rate of deforestation, the world’s rain forests could be obliterated within just 100 years, according to National Geographic."
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
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wili

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #63 on: April 22, 2015, 06:22:49 PM »
They mention logging, but really cattle raising is the bigger threat in places like the Amazon, though of course the two are not always mutually exclusive.
"A force de chercher de bonnes raisons, on en trouve; on les dit; et après on y tient, non pas tant parce qu'elles sont bonnes que pour ne pas se démentir." Choderlos de Laclos "You struggle to come up with some valid reasons, then cling to them, not because they're good, but just to not back down."

AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #64 on: April 30, 2015, 11:46:10 PM »
The linked article indicates that there are currently wildfires blazing in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone:

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/news/article/wildfires-in-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-prompt-fears-of-radiation-contamination/520054.html
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Laurent

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #65 on: May 04, 2015, 12:54:48 PM »
Hyperdominance in Amazonian forest carbon cycling
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/150428/ncomms7857/abs/ncomms7857.html
Quote
We find that dominance of forest function is even more concentrated in a few species than is dominance of tree abundance, with only ≈1% of Amazon tree species responsible for 50% of carbon storage and productivity.

From : http://www.rainfor.org/

AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #66 on: May 07, 2015, 04:51:53 PM »
Per the information in the following two links, Western North America is on track for a severe wildfire season this year (see attached image).

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/intense-wildfire-season-in-west-expected-18962

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/briefings/201504.pdf

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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #67 on: May 09, 2015, 03:26:10 PM »
The linked (open access) US Forest Service researchers: "… discuss the positive feedback loops that lead to demands for increasing suppression response while simultaneously increasing wildfire risk in the future."

David E Calkin, Matthew P Thompson and Mark A Finney (2015), "Negative consequences of positive feedbacks in US wildfire management", Forest Ecosystems, 2:9,  doi:10.1186/s40663-015-0033-8


http://www.forestecosyst.com/content/2/1/9


Abstract: "Over the last two decades wildfire activity, damage, and management cost within the US have increased substantially. These increases have been associated with a number of factors including climate change and fuel accumulation due to a century of active fire suppression. The increased fire activity has occurred during a time of significant ex-urban development of the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) along with increased demand on water resources originating on forested landscapes. These increased demands have put substantial pressure on federal agencies charged with wildfire management to continue and expand the century old policy of aggressive wildfire suppression. However, aggressive wildfire suppression is one of the major factors that drive the increased extent, intensity, and damage associated with the small number of large wildfires that are unable to be suppressed. In this paper we discuss the positive feedback loops that lead to demands for increasing suppression response while simultaneously increasing wildfire risk in the future. Despite a wealth of scientific research that demonstrates the limitations of the current management paradigm pressure to maintain the existing system are well entrenched and driven by the existing social systems that have evolved under our current management practice. Interestingly, US federal wildland fire policy provides considerable discretion for managers to pursue a range of management objectives; however, societal expectations and existing management incentive structures result in policy implementation that is straining the resilience of fire adapted ecosystems and the communities that reside in and adjacent to them."

Caption for figure: "Estimates of area burned by large wildfires in the contiguous United States (CONUS), 1984–2012. A large wildfire is defined here as ≥ 405 ha in the Western US, ≥ 203 ha in the Eastern US. Estimates for 1984–2012 (bars) are based on large perimeters mapped as part of the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project (Eidenshink et al. [2007]). An additional set of estimates for 1992–2012 (line) is based on records of wildfires > 405 ha included in the Fire Program Analysis Fire-Occurrence Database (Short [2014])."

See also:
http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060018254
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Laurent

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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #70 on: September 03, 2015, 04:13:40 PM »
The linked article indicates that deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon has accelerated recently:

http://www.latimes.com/world/brazil/la-fg-brazil-deforestation-20150903-story.html

Extract: "Figures released this week point to an apparent rise in deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon over the last year, an ominous development that one researcher attributed to an increase in cattle ranching aimed at the U.S. market.

The newly lost forest, nearly 2,000 square miles, amounts to an area about the size of Delaware."
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #71 on: September 03, 2015, 04:17:18 PM »
The linked article cites that humans are contributing to deforestation at an alarming rate:

http://www.carbonbrief.org/blog/2015/09/daily-briefing-earth-has-3-trillion-trees-but-theyre-falling-at-alarming-rate/

Extract: "But every year, humans are cutting down over 15bn trees, which is quickly eating into forests' ability to lock up carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere, say the researchers."
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #72 on: September 30, 2015, 12:45:24 AM »
The linked article provides evidence that climate change induced droughts will cause larger trees to suffer the most.  This will act as a positive feedback, by accelerating forest degradation worldwide.

http://www.nature.com/articles/nplants2015139
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #73 on: October 11, 2015, 04:09:50 AM »
The linked article discusses the drought in Brazil which already is the worst in its history; and now with at least a Super El Nino coming, the drought should intensify; which should result in more forest loss, and when the La Nina comes, much of the dead wood will produce methane:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/11/opinion/sunday/deforestation-and-drought.html?smid=tw-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&_r=1

Extract: "“A lot of people are scrambling to make observations in the Amazon this year, with the expected big El Niño coming,” said Abigail L. S. Swann, an eco-climatologist at the University of Washington. “It’s expected to drive significant drought over the Amazon, which will change how much water trees have available.”

...

AND its impact could potentially accelerate. In a recent report, Antonio Donato Nobre, a veteran climatologist with Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research, warned that if just 40 percent of the Amazon region is deforested there could be an abrupt large-scale shift to grasslands, which could substantially alter global weather patterns “and cause a breakdown of the current climate system.” If deforestation continues, he has said, São Paulo will most likely “dry up.”"
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Csnavywx

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #74 on: October 11, 2015, 05:57:10 AM »
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/201509_fires/

Indonesian peat and forest fires seem to be kicking into high gear -- "tracking close to 1997" -- an which released between 3 and 9 billion tons of CO2. Also, fires have already started in the Amazon and forecasts there show much above normal temps and much below normal precipitation (for the next 6+ months!) on a forest already stressed by last year's dry conditions.

We could be looking at some very serious forest loss and a big burst of CO2 emissions this year. The Amazon in particular worries me as it has taken repeated hits with severe droughts in the past several years. This drought could take the cake, especially in the southern portions, since they were hit hard last year.

AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #75 on: October 13, 2015, 12:08:27 PM »
The linked article discuss a disturbing positive feedback associated with lianas (vines) strangling rainforest trees:

http://phys.org/news/2015-10-scientists-vines-strangle-carbon-storage.html


Extract: "Tropical forests account for a third of the total carbon fixed by photosynthesis. Lianas' increasing abundance may be driven by changing climate, increased disturbance or by more severe seasonal drought. By reducing the ability of tropical forests to accumulate and store carbon released through burning fossil fuels, lianas could cause a positive feedback loop, accelerating climate change.

"This study has far-reaching ramifications," said co-author Stefan Schnitzer, a biology professor at Marquette University and a long-term research associate at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute. "Lianas contribute only a small fraction of the biomass in tropical forests, but their effects on trees dramatically alter how carbon is accumulated and stored."

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the article co-authored by Geertje van der Heijden, a postdoctoral fellow at STRI and in Schnitzer's lab, and Jennifer Powers, a professor at the University of Minnesota.

Lianas are characteristic of lowland tropical forests, often making up more than 25 percent of species and woody stems. Because they depend on trees for support as they climb into sunlit treetops, they can invest a greater percentage of their own biomass in leaves."


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jai mitchell

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #76 on: October 13, 2015, 01:21:35 PM »
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/features/201509_fires/

Indonesian peat and forest fires seem to be kicking into high gear -- "tracking close to 1997" -- an which released between 3 and 9 billion tons of CO2. Also, fires have already started in the Amazon and forecasts there show much above normal temps and much below normal precipitation (for the next 6+ months!) on a forest already stressed by last year's dry conditions.

We could be looking at some very serious forest loss and a big burst of CO2 emissions this year. The Amazon in particular worries me as it has taken repeated hits with severe droughts in the past several years. This drought could take the cake, especially in the southern portions, since they were hit hard last year.

.81 to 2.57 Gt of Carbon released in indonesia in 1997


http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v420/n6911/full/nature01131.html


Abstract:

Tropical peatlands are one of the largest near-surface reserves of terrestrial organic carbon, and hence their stability has important implications for climate change1, 2, 3. In their natural state, lowland tropical peatlands support a luxuriant growth of peat swamp forest overlying peat deposits up to 20 metres thick4, 5. Persistent environmental change—in particular, drainage and forest clearing—threatens their stability2, and makes them susceptible to fire6. This was demonstrated by the occurrence of widespread fires throughout the forested peatlands of Indonesia7, 8, 9, 10 during the 1997 El Niño event. Here, using satellite images of a 2.5 million hectare study area in Central Kalimantan, Borneo, from before and after the 1997 fires, we calculate that 32% (0.79 Mha) of the area had burned, of which peatland accounted for 91.5% (0.73 Mha). Using ground measurements of the burn depth of peat, we estimate that 0.19–0.23 gigatonnes (Gt) of carbon were released to the atmosphere through peat combustion, with a further 0.05 Gt released from burning of the overlying vegetation. Extrapolating these estimates to Indonesia as a whole, we estimate that between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon were released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning peat and vegetation in Indonesia. This is equivalent to 13–40% of the mean annual global carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and contributed greatly to the largest annual increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration detected since records began in 1957 (ref. 1).
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silkman

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #77 on: October 19, 2015, 08:50:36 AM »
No sign of a let up in the peat fires in Indonesia that are currently emitting carbon at a rate greater than the total US economy according to the Global Fire Emissions Database:

http://news.mongabay.com/2015/10/carbon-emissions-from-indonesias-peat-fires-exceed-emissions-from-entire-u-s-economy/

http://spaceref.com/onorbit/fires-in-indonesia-seen-from-orbit.html

There's some international collaboration now to tackle the fire but it's clearly too little too late:

http://news.asiaone.com/news/singapore/singapore-joins-indonesias-biggest-operation-ever-combat-fires

This situation seems destined to continue until the current El Niño subsides




AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #78 on: November 08, 2015, 07:42:15 PM »
The linked article discusses both the challenges & implications of modeling changes in the Amazon biomass, including the role of CO₂ fertilization, land use impacts, variable plant traits, roles of nutrients, and climatic variability (among other factors).  Personally, I find it disturbing that despite the CO₂ fertilization negative feedback, the world has stayed on a BAU pathway for decades, and if/when this negative feedback is disrupted then climate sensitivity will become much worse than it is today:

Andrea D. de Almeida Castanho, David Galbraith, Ke Zhang, Michael T. Coe, Marcos H. Costa & Paul Moorcroft (2015), "Changing Amazon biomass and the role of atmospheric CO2 concentration, climate and land use", Global Geochemical Cycles, DOI: 10.1002/2015GB005135


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2015GB005135/abstract

Abstract: "The Amazonian tropical evergreen forest is an important component of the global carbon budget. Its forest floristic composition, structure and function are sensitive to changes in climate, atmospheric composition and land use. In this study biomass and productivity simulated by three DGVMs (IBIS, ED2 and JULES) for the period 1970–2008 are compared with observations from forest plots (RAINFOR). The spatial variability in biomass and productivity simulated by the DGVMs is low in comparison to the field observations in part because of poor representation of the heterogeneity of vegetation traits within the models. We find that over the last four decades the CO2 fertilization effect dominates a long-term increase in simulated biomass in undisturbed Amazonian forests, while land use change dominates a reduction in AGB, of similar magnitude to the CO2 biomass gain, in the south and southeastern Amazonia. Climate extremes exert a strong effect on the biomass on short time scales, but the models are incapable of reproducing the observed impacts of extreme drought on forest biomass. We find that future improvements in the accuracy of DGVM predictions will require improved representation of four key elements: 1) spatially variable plant traits; 2) soil and nutrients mediated processes; 3) extreme event mortality; 4) sensitivity to climatic variability. Finally, continued long-term observations and ecosystem-scale experiments (e.g. FACE experiments) are essential for a better understanding of the changing dynamics of tropical forests."
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #79 on: November 17, 2015, 04:33:34 PM »
The linked (open access) study finds that US forests will absorb less CO₂ in the future:

http://www.nature.com/articles/srep16518

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/11/16/the-hidden-factor-that-could-complicate-u-s-plans-to-cut-carbon-emissions/

Extract: "A new study in Nature Scientific Reports, by U.S. Forest Service researchers David Wear and John Coulston, finds that U.S. forests, which currently store more carbon than they lose each year — lowering the country’s net emissions — could store less of it in the future."
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AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #80 on: November 20, 2015, 06:59:04 PM »
The linked (open access) reference uses improved models of the Amazon forest to conclude that: "Areas with initial tree coverage greater than 80 % show an increase in coupling with the atmosphere after deforestation, suggesting land use change could heighten sensitivity to climate anomalies, while irrigation acts to dampen coupling with the atmosphere."

Badger, A. M. and Dirmeyer, P. A. (2015), "Climate response to Amazon forest replacement by heterogeneous crop cover", Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 19, 4547-4557, doi:10.5194/hess-19-4547-2015.

http://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci.net/19/4547/2015/hess-19-4547-2015.html

Abstract: "Previous modeling studies with atmospheric general circulation models and basic land surface schemes to balance energy and water budgets have shown that by removing the natural vegetation over the Amazon, the region's climate becomes warmer and drier. In this study we use a fully coupled Earth system model and replace tropical forests by a distribution of six common tropical crops with variable planting dates, physiological parameters and irrigation. There is still general agreement with previous studies as areal averages show a warmer (+1.4 K) and drier (−0.35 mm day−1) climate. Using an interactive crop model with a realistic crop distribution shows that regions of vegetation change experience different responses dependent upon the initial tree coverage and whether the replacement vegetation is irrigated, with seasonal changes synchronized to the cropping season. Areas with initial tree coverage greater than 80 % show an increase in coupling with the atmosphere after deforestation, suggesting land use change could heighten sensitivity to climate anomalies, while irrigation acts to dampen coupling with the atmosphere."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #81 on: November 21, 2015, 10:05:15 AM »
The linked article indicates that not only is the Amazon rainforest projected to shrink (and thus to absorb less CO₂) it is also projected to lose biodiversity as more than half of its tree species are threatened:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/amazon-threatened_56500a64e4b0258edb31b709

Extract: "It's been estimated that the Amazon rainforest and surrounding areas are—or once were—home to upwards of 11,000 different tree species. It's also been estimated that those forests have shrunk by about 12 percent, and that human meddling could double or triple that number by 2050. Now, researchers report, the loss of forest cover could threaten the existence of more than half the tree species in the Amazon."


See:
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/10/e1500936

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #82 on: February 22, 2016, 07:54:24 PM »
The linked (open access) reference indicates that humans are having a doubly negative impact on rainforests by first cutting them down and then limiting their regrowth potential; both of which are positive feedbacks for global warming:

María Uriarte, Jesse R. Lasky, Vanessa K. Boukili & Robin L. Chazdon (22 February 2016), "Demography beyond the Population: A trait-mediated, neighbourhood approach to quantify climate impacts on successional dynamics of tropical rainforests", Functional Ecology, DOI: 10.1111/1365-2435.12576


http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2435.12576/full

Summary:
1.   Second-growth forests account for 40% of the terrestrial forest carbon sink and represent the dominant forest cover in tropical regions. Uncertainties in predicting responses of these ecosystems to climate change arise from high tree species diversity, complex links between eco-physiology and demography, and the role of ontogeny and competition in mediating individual tree responses to climate. The dynamic nature of second-growth forests adds further uncertainty to our ability to quantify the relative importance of climate in mediating successional trajectories.
2.   To address these uncertainties, we develop a hierarchical Bayesian neighbourhood modelling approach that quantifies how the joint response of two key functional axes, wood density and specific leaf area (SLA), modulate impacts of inter-annual variation in seasonal water stress (number of days during dry season > 1 kPa vapour pressure deficit) and night-time temperature on growth and survival of small (5–10 cm dbh) and large (≥ 10 cm dbh) trees for 171 rainforest species in 6 s-growth and 2 old-growth 1-ha mapped stands. We use model results to examine potential climate impacts on the successional trajectories of these stands.
3.   High water stress reduced large tree growth but favoured growth of small trees. Drought also reduced tree survival for both large and small trees. Tree species with high wood density suffered lower growth reductions and had higher survival under water stress. High SLA magnified the negative effects of water stress on tree growth and survival. Across all tree sizes, high night-time temperatures did not influence growth or survival. Simulated successional trajectories under different climate scenarios using these results suggest that multi-annual droughts will have substantial impacts of the successional trajectories of tropical forests, leading to lower stem numbers, basal area and biomass. Sustained drought will also shift functional composition of second-growth forest by favouring species with low SLA which tend to dominate in late stages of succession.
4.   By incorporating trait-mediated effects on key drivers of tree demography and successional dynamics, our approach provides an integrated perspective on interspecific variation in vulnerability to drought and consequences for successional trajectories in tropical rainforests. Our results suggest that multi-annual drought stress will significantly alter structure, composition and dynamics of second-growth forests and, from a functional perspective, accelerate succession. However, this effect may be hampered by dispersal limitation of old-growth species into second-growth forests.

See also:

http://www.climatecentral.org/news/tropical-forests-store-less-carbon-climate-changes-20052

Extract: "Humans appear to be delivering one-two punches to tropical rainforests, with new research projecting that climate change will reshape how the ecosystems recover following logging.
Scientists simulated how different trees in tropical rainforests will respond to prolonged droughts triggered by climate change, based on 14 years of data from Costa Rica study plots.
Their findings suggest that profound changes lay ahead for these important ecosystems around the world, and that the changes may accelerate global warming."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #83 on: February 23, 2016, 11:56:35 PM »
The linked article indicates that almost all forests in the USA are threatened by the impacts of climate change induced increase of droughts:

James S. Clark, Louis Iverson, Christopher W. Woodall, Craig D. Allen, David M. Bell, Don C. Bragg, Anthony W. D'Amato, Frank W. Davis, Michelle H. Hersh, Ines Ibanez, Stephen T. Jackson, Stephen Matthews, Neil Pederson, Matthew Peters, Mark W. Schwartz, Kristen M. Waring & Niklaus E. Zimmerman (Feb. 22, 2016), "The Impacts of Increasing Drought on Forest Dynamics, Structure, and Biodiversity in the United States," Global Change Biology, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13160

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13160/abstract

Abstract: "We synthesize insights from current understanding of drought impacts at stand-to-biogeographic scales, including management options, and we identify challenges to be addressed with new research. Large stand-level shifts underway in western forests already are showing the importance of interactions involving drought, insects, and fire. Diebacks, changes in composition and structure, and shifting range limits are widely observed. In the eastern US, the effects of increasing drought are becoming better understood at the level of individual trees, but this knowledge cannot yet be confidently translated to predictions of changing structure and diversity of forest stands. While eastern forests have not experienced the types of changes seen in western forests in recent decades, they too are vulnerable to drought and could experience significant changes with increased severity, frequency, or duration in drought. Throughout the continental United States, the combination of projected large climate-induced shifts in suitable habitat from modeling studies and limited potential for the rapid migration of tree populations suggests that changing tree and forest biogeography could substantially lag habitat shifts already underway. Forest management practices can partially ameliorate drought impacts through reductions in stand density, selection of drought-tolerant species and genotypes, artificial regeneration, and the development of multistructured stands. However, silvicultural treatments also could exacerbate drought impacts unless implemented with careful attention to site and stand characteristics. Gaps in our understanding should motivate new research on the effects of interactions involving climate and other species at the stand scale and how interactions and multiple responses are represented in models. This assessment indicates that, without a stronger empirical basis for drought impacts at the stand scale, more complex models may provide limited guidance."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #84 on: February 25, 2016, 11:21:04 PM »
The linked (open access) reference discusses the world's first computer simulation capable of growing realistic forests, with the goal of studying the impacts of climate change.  The researchers are concerned that increasing drought conditions will make it harder for forests to recover from clear-cutting.  Further, I note that as temperate zones move poleward, light scarcity will limit the growth of some types of trees:

Jean Liénard & Nikolay Strigul (10 February 2016), "An individual-based forest model links canopy dynamics and shade tolerances along a soil moisture gradient", Royal Society Open Science, DOI: 10.1098/rsos.150589

http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/2/150589

Abstract: "Understanding how forested ecosystems respond to climatic changes is a challenging problem as forest self-organization occurs simultaneously across multiple scales. Here, we explore the hypothesis that soil water availability shapes above-ground competition and gap dynamics, and ultimately alters the dominance of shade tolerant and intolerant species along the moisture gradient. We adapt a spatially explicit individual-based model with simultaneous crown and root competitions. Simulations show that the transition from xeric to mesic soils is accompanied by an increase in shade-tolerant species similar to the patterns documented in the North American forests. This transition is accompanied by a change from water to sunlight competitions, and happens at three successive stages: (i) mostly water-limited parkland, (ii) simultaneously water- and sunlight-limited closed canopy forests featuring a very sparse understory, and (iii) mostly sunlight-limited forests with a populated understory. This pattern is caused by contrasting successional dynamics that favour either shade-tolerant or shade-intolerant species, depending on soil moisture and understory density. This work demonstrates that forest patterns along environmental gradients can emerge from spatial competition without physiological trade-offs between shade and growth tolerance. Mechanistic understanding of population processes involved in the forest–parkland–desert transition will improve our ability to explain species distributions and predict forest responses to climatic changes."

See also:
http://www.gizmag.com/simulated-forests-climate-change-effects/42046/

Extract: "…. researchers at Washington State University have created the world's first computer simulation capable of growing realistic forests, using the model to predict how things like frequent wildfires or drought might impact forests across North America.
The new computer simulation allows scientists to grow a virtual forest over the period of a few weeks. Known as LES (after the Russian word for forest), the system simulates the growth of 100 x 100 m (330 x 330 ft) areas of vegetation, that are then scaled up to simulate entire forests. It's more complex than any previous systems, simulating both canopy structures and intricate root systems for each tree. Each leaf competes for sunlight, while beneath the virtual earth, the organisms' roots compete for water resources.



The team believes that LES could greatly improve our understanding of exactly how climate change is effecting forests, and how those changes will evolve over time. The researchers hope that the system will allow forest managers to determine the species of trees, as well as ecological factors, that are central to forests re-establishing themselves are being disturbed by events such as wildfires.
"The fear is that drier conditions in the future will prevent forests in places like Washington from re-establishing themselves after a clear-cut or wildfire," said Washington State University's Nikolay Strigul. "This could lead to increasing amounts of once-forested areas converted to desert. Our model can help predict if forests are at risk of desertification or other climate change-related processes and identift what can be done to conserve these systems.""
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #85 on: March 26, 2016, 05:13:04 PM »
The linked article discusses that while China is on pace to reforest 154,440 sq miles from 2005 to 2020; on net they are contributing to deforestation (both legal & illegal) worldwide:

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032016/china-success-regrowing-its-forests-has-flip-side-deforestation-carbon-emissions

Extract: "China has pledged to increase forest cover by a total of 154,440 square miles between 2005 and 2020, the study said. 
While China regrows its own forests, however, the country's timber imports have led to significant deforestation elsewhere.
"They are overwhelmingly the world's largest and most aggressive consumer of timber," said William Laurance, director of the Centre for Tropical Environmental and Sustainability Science at James Cook University in Cairns, Australia. More than half of the timber shipped anywhere in the world is destined for China, Laurance said, using figure from a Greenpeace International report that is cited in commentary he published in the journal Science.
In their study, Liu and colleagues conceded this point. They said China's conservation policy may be exacerbating forest degradation, through both legal and illegal logging, in other regions including Southeast Asia and Africa. "At least some of the carbon sequestration in China's forested areas may have come at the cost of carbon emissions elsewhere," they write."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #86 on: April 17, 2016, 05:24:41 PM »

The linked article entitled "Palm oil’s in everything and everywhere, and it’s destroying Asia’s rainforests" posted by Michael Thomas July 26, 2015; cites that due to lack of oversight & regulation land clearing (largely for palm oil) is the number one cause of deforestation in Indonesia:

http://www.exposingtruth.com/palm-oils-in-everything-and-everywhere-and-its-destroying-asias-rainforests/

Extract: "Due to the lack of oversight and regulation in Indonesia and Malaysia, deforestation in the name of palm oil doesn’t show any indication of decreasing. Land clearing for palm oil plantations is the number one cause of deforestation in Indonesia, which saw approximately 1,240,000 square kilometers of rainforest burned and cut down for palm oil between 2009 and 2011."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #87 on: April 18, 2016, 03:11:35 PM »
Since the early 1990s Cambodia has experienced severe (and typically illegal) deforestation:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/defender-of-cambodias-dwindling-forests-wins-goldman-prize/2016/04/18/26ed8800-051c-11e6-bfed-ef65dff5970d_story.html


Extract: "Cambodia remained heavily forested until relatively recently, thanks in part to lingering battles with Khmer Rouge guerrillas and massive use of land mines during the Vietnam War.
As the economy opened in the early 1990s, investment from China poured in. Forest cover dropped to 48 percent in 2014 from 57 percent in 2010 and 73 percent in 1990, a loss of nearly 3 million hectares of tropical forest. Rosewood, known as “hongmu” in Chinese, is especially prized, and loggers can get $5,000 for a cubic meter of the brightly-hued timber."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #88 on: April 20, 2016, 05:24:37 PM »
The linked (open access) reference discusses and intensive effort to observe & model the Amazon from 2014 thru 2015.  The attached image shows the marked increase in fires from early 2014 to late 2014.


Martin, S. T., Artaxo, P., Machado, L. A. T., Manzi, A. O., Souza, R. A. F., Schumacher, C., Wang, J., Andreae, M. O., Barbosa, H. M. J., Fan, J., Fisch, G., Goldstein, A. H., Guenther, A., Jimenez, J. L., Pöschl, U., Silva Dias, M. A., Smith, J. N., and Wendisch, M.: Introduction: Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4785-4797, doi:10.5194/acp-16-4785-2016, 2016.

http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/4785/2016/

http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/16/4785/2016/acp-16-4785-2016.pdf

Abstract. The Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5) Experiment was carried out in the environs of Manaus, Brazil, in the central region of the Amazon basin for 2 years from 1 January 2014 through 31 December 2015. The experiment focused on the complex interactions among vegetation, atmospheric chemistry, and aerosol production on the one hand and their connections to aerosols, clouds, and precipitation on the other. The objective was to understand and quantify these linked processes, first under natural conditions to obtain a baseline and second when altered by the effects of human activities. To this end, the pollution plume from the Manaus metropolis, superimposed on the background conditions of the central Amazon basin, served as a natural laboratory. The present paper, as the introduction to the special issue of GoAmazon2014/5, presents the context and motivation of the GoAmazon2014/5 Experiment. The nine research sites, including the characteristics and instrumentation of each site, are presented. The sites range from time point zero (T0) upwind of the pollution, to T1 in the midst of the pollution, to T2 just downwind of the pollution, to T3 furthest downwind of the pollution (70 km). In addition to the ground sites, a low-altitude G-159 Gulfstream I (G-1) observed the atmospheric boundary layer and low clouds, and a high-altitude Gulfstream G550 (HALO) operated in the free troposphere. During the 2-year experiment, two Intensive Operating Periods (IOP1 and IOP2) also took place that included additional specialized research instrumentation at the ground sites as well as flights of the two aircraft. GoAmazon2014/5 IOP1 was carried out from 1 February to 31 March 2014 in the wet season. GoAmazon2014/5 IOP2 was conducted from 15 August to 15 October 2014 in the dry season. The G-1 aircraft flew during both IOP1 and IOP2, and the HALO aircraft flew during IOP2. In the context of the Amazon basin, the two IOPs also correspond to the clean and biomass burning seasons, respectively. The Manaus plume is present year-round, and it is transported by prevailing northeasterly and easterly winds in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. This introduction also organizes information relevant to many papers in the special issue. Information is provided on the vehicle fleet, power plants, and industrial activities of Manaus. The mesoscale and synoptic meteorologies relevant to the two IOPs are presented. Regional and long-range transport of emissions during the two IOPs is discussed based on satellite observations across South America and Africa. Fire locations throughout the airshed are detailed. In conjunction with the context and motivation of GoAmazon2014/5 as presented in this introduction, research articles including thematic overview articles are anticipated in this special issue to describe the detailed results and findings of the GoAmazon2014/5 Experiment.
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #89 on: August 07, 2016, 10:51:29 AM »
Scribbler has another excellent article on the Amazon basin entitled: "Carbon Sinks in Crisis — It Looks Like the World’s Largest Rainforest is Starting to Bleed Greenhouse Gasses"

https://robertscribbler.com/2016/08/05/carbon-sinks-in-crisis-it-looks-like-the-worlds-largest-rainforest-is-starting-to-bleed-greenhouse-gasses/
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #90 on: August 16, 2016, 03:15:12 AM »
Oil palm plantations are contributing to accelerating climate change:

Claudia Dislich, Alexander C. Keyel, Jan Salecker, Yael Kisel, Katrin M. Meyer, Mark Auliya, Andrew D. Barnes, Marife D. Corre, Kevin Darras, Heiko Faust, Bastian Hess, Stephan Klasen, Alexander Knohl, Holger Kreft, Ana Meijide, Fuad Nurdiansyah, Fenna Otten, Guy Pe'er, Stefanie Steinebach, Suria Tarigan, Merja H. Tölle, Teja Tscharntke, Kerstin Wiegand. A review of the ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations, using forests as a reference system. Biological Reviews, 2016; DOI: 10.1111/brv.12295

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/brv.12295/abstract



Abstract: “Oil palm plantations have expanded rapidly in recent decades. This large-scale land-use change has had great ecological, economic, and social impacts on both the areas converted to oil palm and their surroundings. However, research on the impacts of oil palm cultivation is scattered and patchy, and no clear overview exists. We address this gap through a systematic and comprehensive literature review of all ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations, including several (genetic, medicinal and ornamental resources, information functions) not included in previous systematic reviews. We compare ecosystem functions in oil palm plantations to those in forests, as the conversion of forest to oil palm is prevalent in the tropics. We find that oil palm plantations generally have reduced ecosystem functioning compared to forests: 11 out of 14 ecosystem functions show a net decrease in level of function. Some functions show decreases with potentially irreversible global impacts (e.g. reductions in gas and climate regulation, habitat and nursery functions, genetic resources, medicinal resources, and information functions). The most serious impacts occur when forest is cleared to establish new plantations, and immediately afterwards, especially on peat soils. To variable degrees, specific plantation management measures can prevent or reduce losses of some ecosystem functions (e.g. avoid illegal land clearing via fire, avoid draining of peat, use of integrated pest management, use of cover crops, mulch, and compost) and we highlight synergistic mitigation measures that can improve multiple ecosystem functions simultaneously. The only ecosystem function which increases in oil palm plantations is, unsurprisingly, the production of marketable goods. Our review highlights numerous research gaps. In particular, there are significant gaps with respect to socio-cultural information functions. Further, there is a need for more empirical data on the importance of spatial and temporal scales, such as differences among plantations in different environments, of different sizes, and of different ages, as our review has identified examples where ecosystem functions vary spatially and temporally. Finally, more research is needed on developing management practices that can offset the losses of ecosystem functions. Our findings should stimulate research to address the identified gaps, and provide a foundation for more systematic research and discussion on  ways to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive impacts of oil palm cultivation.”
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #91 on: August 16, 2016, 05:09:08 PM »
CMIP5 models largely do not account for the influence of wildfires on the rain forest, but the linked article point to both field and model results indicates that this is not a very good idea:

http://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/2016/08/the-olympics-year-the-rain-forest-burned/

Extract: "With a camera on a NASA satellite that circles over Earth’s poles, University of California, Irvine professor James Randerson has spotted a near-record number of early-dry season fires burning on the southern and western perimeter of the Amazon forest, including in seven Brazilian states and swaths of lowland Peru and Bolivia.
Randerson, a biologist, has created a computer model for forecasting forest fires. Evidence from various satellites indicate that the rainy season just ended shed unusually little precipitation. “It’s the driest we’ve observed in the last 15 years at the onset of the dry season,” he says. Several weeks ago, he forecast a chart-busting conflagration later this month. The many blazes already detected appear to bear out his prediction.

But don’t rest easy. The bad news is that a mechanism not considered by the British researchers might be as threatening to the Amazon as the out-of-favor dieback process: forest fires inadvertently spread by farmers during unseasonably dry years. New research shows that in dry years, fires migrating off farms and ranches can inadvertently convert flame-resistant forest into combustible tinder, increasing the area burned in successive droughts. “That can become self-perpetuating,” says Nepstad."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #92 on: September 01, 2016, 12:42:23 AM »
The linked article indicates that reforestation does not fight climate change unless it is done right:

https://thinkprogress.org/planting-trees-climate-change-solution-3e5b6979561f#.mncjnc5qb

Extract: "Reforestation Doesn’t Fight Climate Change Unless It’s Done Right"
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #93 on: October 16, 2016, 03:00:52 PM »
The linked article is entitled: "As the Global Demand for Palm Oil Surges, Indonesia’s Rainforests Are Being Destroyed

http://www.audubon.org/magazine/fall-2016/as-global-demand-palm-oil-surges-indonesias

Extract: "Tracts of land are being cleared to make way for palm plantations, releasing vast quantities of CO2 and giving poachers easy access to endangered Helmeted Hornbills."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #94 on: October 19, 2016, 02:27:05 PM »
 The linked 2016 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists is entitled: "Cattle, Cleared Forests, and Climate Change - Scoring America’s Top Brands on Their Deforestation-Free Beef Commitments and Practices".  It finds that: "The growing global appetite for beef is the single biggest driver behind the disappearance of the planet's rainforests—and that is likely to expand as the world hurtles toward a population of 10 billion in 2050."


http://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2016/09/ucs-cattle-cleared-forests-climate-change-2016.pdf

Extract: "Each year, tropical forests are destroyed to clear land that is ultimately used for beef production, making beef the largest driver of tropical deforestation globally. South America’s forests are “ground zero” for beef-driven deforestation."

See also the linked article entitled: "Beef Companies Failing in Effort to Slow Amazon Deforestation, Study Says"

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/17102016/beef-companies-failing-effort-slow-amazon-rainforest-deforestation-climate-change-mcdonalds-burger-king-walmart

Extract: "America's top beef buyers have failed to tackle deforestation in South America despite some companies' pledges to source "deforestation-free" beef, according to a report by an environmental advocacy group.

The growing global appetite for beef is the single biggest driver behind the disappearance of the planet's rainforests—and that is likely to expand as the world hurtles toward a population of 10 billion in 2050."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #95 on: November 06, 2016, 07:13:40 PM »
The linked open access report is entitled: "Toward a Global Baseline of Carbon Storage in Collective Lands".  It emphasizes the value of securing the legal right of indigenous people w.r.t. protecting collective tropical forestland from deforestation (see attached image):

http://rightsandresources.org/en/publication/summary-toward-global-baseline-carbon-storage-collective-lands/#.WB9v0U3fOTN
&
http://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Toward-a-Global-Baseline-of-Carbon-Storage-in-Collective-Lands-November-2016-RRI-WHRC-WRI-report.pdf

Key findings:
" - Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage at least 24 percent of the total carbon stored aboveground in the world’s tropical forests, or 54,546 million metric tons of carbon (MtC), a sum greater than 250 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global air travel in 2015.
 
- At least one-tenth of the total carbon found aboveground in the world’s tropical forests is located in collective forestlands lacking formal recognition, placing over 22,000 MtC at risk from external deforestation and/or degradation pressures.

- Study results are a mere fraction of the forest carbon managed by Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Indigenous Peoples and local communities customarily claim at least 50 percent of the world’s lands, but legally own just 10 percent. The gap between recognized and unrecognized areas points to significant opportunities to scale-up the protection of customary rights."

Also see the linked article entitled: "Failure to secure forest dweller rights risks carbon emissions spike, report says"

http://in.reuters.com/article/asia-landrights-climatechange-idINKBN12X03Y

Extract: "Securing the land rights of indigenous people and forest dwellers is crucial to keeping global rises in temperature below the agreed 2 degree Celsius threshold, according to a report.
Community forest lands from Brazil to Indonesia contain at least 54,546 million metric tons of carbon, equivalent to four times the global carbon emissions in 2014, according to analysis by the Rights and Resources Initiative, Woods Hole Research Center and World Resources Institute.
Without secure rights for the communities that live in these forests, there is a risk that the people will be displaced and the lands destroyed, releasing the carbon into the atmosphere, said the report published on Wednesday."
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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #96 on: November 23, 2016, 04:12:23 PM »
The linked article is entitled: "An astounding 102 million trees are now dead in California".  The big concern is the wildfires that this will likely cause in the fire season of the summer of 2017.

http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/22/13709442/dead-trees-california-wildfire

Extract: "Forest managers have never seen anything like it. Across California, an astounding 102 million trees have died over the past six years from drought and disease — including 62 million trees in 2016 alone, the US Forest Service estimates. Once-mighty oaks and pines have faded into ghastly hues of brown and gray. "
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― Leon C. Megginson

AbruptSLR

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #97 on: November 28, 2016, 06:31:34 PM »
The linked reference indicates that the yellow-cedar forest in Alaska is in trouble due to climate change:

Brian Buma, et. al. (Nov 28 2016), "Emerging climate-driven disturbance processes: widespread mortality associated with snow-to-rain transitions across 10° of latitude and half the range of a climate-threatened conifer", Global Change Biology, DOI: 10.1111/gcb.13555

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gcb.13555/full

Abstract: "Climate change is causing rapid changes to forest disturbance regimes worldwide. While the consequences of climate change for existing disturbance processes, like fires, are relatively well studied, emerging drivers of disturbance such as snow loss and subsequent mortality are much less documented. As the climate warms, a transition from winter snow to rain in high latitudes will cause significant changes in environmental conditions such as soil temperatures, historically buffered by snow cover. The Pacific coast of North America is an excellent test case, as mean winter temperatures are currently at the snow–rain threshold and have been warming for approximately 100 years post-Little Ice Age. Increased mortality in a widespread tree species in the region has been linked to warmer winters and snow loss. Here, we present the first high-resolution range map of this climate-sensitive species, Callitropsis nootkatensis (yellow-cedar), and document the magnitude and location of observed mortality across Canada and the United States. Snow cover loss related mortality spans approximately 10° latitude (half the native range of the species) and 7% of the overall species range and appears linked to this snow–rain transition across its range. Mortality is commonly >70% of basal area in affected areas, and more common where mean winter temperatures is at or above the snow–rain threshold (>0 °C mean winter temperature). Approximately 50% of areas with a currently suitable climate for the species (<−2 °C) are expected to warm beyond that threshold by the late 21st century. Regardless of climate change scenario, little of the range which is expected to remain suitable in the future (e.g., a climatic refugia) is in currently protected landscapes (<1–9%). These results are the first documentation of this type of emerging climate disturbance and highlight the difficulties of anticipating novel disturbance processes when planning for conservation and management."

See also the linked article entitled: "New mapping shows extent of yellow-cedar die-off in Alaska; analysis forecasts big losses in the future":

https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/environment/2016/11/26/new-mapping-shows-extent-of-yellow-cedar-die-off-analysis-forecasts-big-losses-in-the-future/

Extract: "The maps and calculations, described in a study published online in the journal Global Change Biology, show over 1,500 square miles of yellow cedar forest has been stricken with die-offs associated with a warming climate.

"It had never been mapped before, so we really didn't know how big the decline was," said Brian Buma of the University of Alaska Southeast, the lead author.

The future for the tree is troubled, according to the study. About half the forested area currently considered suitable for yellow cedars will no longer be so by the end of the century as temperatures rise and winter precipitation shifts from snow to rain, according to the study."
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― Leon C. Megginson

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #98 on: November 29, 2016, 05:56:26 PM »
The linked article is entitled: "Indonesian lower court rejects bid to protect prized forest".

http://phys.org/news/2016-11-indonesian-court-prized-forest.html

Extract: "They said the bylaw threatens the Leuser ecosystem by allowing diversion of the region into industrial and mining forests. The local government so far has issued 23 mining permits within the area, they said.

Conservationists say the 1.8 million-hectare (4.4 million-acre) forest, which spans Aceh and North Sumatra provinces, is the only place in the world where orangutans, rhinos, elephants and tigers share the same wild environment. Each of those four Sumatran species is endangered."
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― Leon C. Megginson

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Re: Global Forest Watch
« Reply #99 on: December 03, 2016, 05:21:38 PM »
The linked article is entitled: "How Big Banks Are Putting Rain Forests in Peril"; and discusses how some of the world's biggest banks have helped agricultural powerhouses in Indonesia to expand their plantation empires:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/03/business/energy-environment/how-big-banks-are-putting-rain-forests-in-peril.html?_r=0
“It is not the strongest or the most intelligent who will survive but those who can best manage change.”
― Leon C. Megginson