Evergreen cloud forest on the slopes of Mt. Rwenzori. This type of forests is created by a wet and moisture climate and is characterized by a high incidence of low-level cloud cover. The forest is that dense that there is rarely light coming until to the ground. Photo Credit: guenterguni/Getty Images.
Environment USAForests Keep the Planet at Least Half a Degree Cooler, New Research Reveals
New research reveals that forests play a much greater role than previously thought in the fight against climate change: they are responsible for keeping our planet at least half a degree Celsius cooler.
Rainforests spanning from Latin America to central Africa to Southeast Asia were all part of the study that was published in the journal of Frontiers in Forests and Global Change which ultimately revealed that forests have much more than the ability to just store carbon; they also help keep air near and far cool and moist by at least half of a degree. In the tropics, the cooling effect was more than one degree.
“The heart of the tropics is at the heart of the planet and these forests are critical for our survival,” says Deborah Lawrence, professor at the University of Virginia. “Without the forest cover we have now, the planet would be hotter and the weather more extreme. Forests provide us defense against the worst-case global warming scenarios,” adds Michael Coe, the tropics program director at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in the United States, and co-author of the study.
The findings also suggest that the forests’ cooling effect further protects us from droughts, extreme heat, and floods. On the other hand, deforestation increases extreme heat and leads to a hotter planet. The science is clear: protecting our forests is closely correlated to the health of planet Earth.
