[MCN] Washington Post: These forests didn't slow climate change. Why?

[George Nickas]

One can’t help but note the irony of the claims we need to more heavily manage our forests in the face of climate change when, as this research suggests, management is probably lessening the forests' ability to mitigate climate change.

Begin forwarded message:
> 
> 
> Forests are supposed to help stop climate change. These forests didn't
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/04/forests-are-supposed-to-help-stop-climate-change-these-forests-didnt/
> 
> Washington Post article based on article in Science:
> http://science.sciencemag.org/content/351/6273/597
> 
> Excerpt from Washington Post article:
> 
> "European forests have failed to realize a net [carbon dioxide] removal from the atmosphere, and this is due to the fact that humans extracted wood from unmanaged forests by bringing these forests under management," said the study's lead author Kim Naudts, a researcher with the University of Versailles' Climate and Environmental Sciences Laboratory at the time the work was conducted.
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> "Even a well-managed forest today stores less carbon than its natural counterparts in 1750," Naudts said.
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> Additionally, the researchers found that replacing broadleaved forests with conifers had another unintended warming effect. Conifer leaves tend to be darker than those of broadleaved trees, Naudts pointed out, so they allow more sunlight to be absorbed.
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> And, Naudts added, "the other effect is that they are more conservative with water, which leads to less evapotranspiration, and to drier air." Evapotranspiration is the process by which water evaporates out of a tree's leaves into the atmosphere. The resulting drier air also contributed to a warming effect.
> 
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2016/02/04/forests-are-supposed-to-help-stop-climate-change-these-forests-didnt/

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