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Forests - just how absorbing are they?
March 13, 2003Forests form an integral part of the Kyoto Protocol on climate change because they act as terrestrial "sinks" to soak up the carbon emissions that are contributing to global warming. Countries that have ratified the protocol can offset their carbon emissions quota by planting trees, either at home or in developing countries. But how efficient is this "carbon trading" and how good are forests at absorbing these extra carbon emissions?
Nearly one hundred of the world's leading experts on global warming will gather in Southampton from 1-4 April 2003 to share the results of their latest research on the role that forests can play in mitigating climate change. Bob Watson, Chief Scientist of the World Bank - the body overseeing global carbon trading - will open the symposium by examining the key part that ecology plays in global policies to ameliorate climate change.
Professor Howard Griffiths of the University of Cambridge will tell the symposium: "The remit for plant scientists is a hefty one. Not only do we need to quantify the capacity of global terrestrial carbon sinks, but we also need to critically assess the methods and models we use to make sure that our measurements are accurate and reliable enough to predict likely future levels of carbon."
Speaking at the symposium, Professor John Grace of the University of Edinburgh and President of the British Ecological Society will highlight the complexity of the carbon cycle, understanding of which is crucial for predicting and reducing the impact of climate change. According to Professor Grace: "The challenge is to predict the behaviour of carbon cycles over the next few decades. There are substantial gaps in our capacity to conduct adequate surveillance, as well as in our knowledge of how the carbon cycle works."
British Ecological Society (BES)
Speaking at the symposium, Professor John Grace of the University of Edinburgh and President of the British Ecological Society will highlight the complexity of the carbon cycle, understanding of which is crucial for predicting and reducing the impact of climate change. According to Professor Grace: "The challenge is to predict the behaviour of carbon cycles over the next few decades. There are substantial gaps in our capacity to conduct adequate surveillance, as well as in our knowledge of how the carbon cycle works."
British Ecological Society (BES)
Global Warming Current Events and Global Warming News RSSOceans' uptake of manmade carbon may be slowing
The oceans play a key role in regulating climate, absorbing more than a quarter of the carbon dioxide that humans put into the air.
Research challenges for understanding landscape changes identified
Nine research challenges and four research initiatives that are poised to advance the study of how Earth's landscapes change were unveiled today in a new report by the National Research Council.
Study: Sea stars bulk up to beat the heat
A new study finds that a species of sea star stays cool using a strategy never before seen in the animal kingdom. The sea stars soak up cold sea water into their bodies during high tide as buffer against potentially damaging temperatures brought about by direct sunlight at low tide.
Drug industry, nonprofits join forces to fight world's neglected diseases
Drug companies and nonprofit organizations are joining forces to develop new drugs and vaccines to target so-called "neglected" diseases that claim millions of lives in the developing world each year.
Health care accounts for 8 percent of US carbon footprint
The American health care sector accounts for nearly a tenth of the country's carbon dioxide emissions, according to a first-of-its-kind calculation of health care's carbon footprint.
Cave Study Links Climate Change to California Droughts
California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic.
Reducing greenhouse gases may not be enough to slow climate change
Because land use changes are responsible for 50 percent of warming in the US, policymakers need to address the influence of global deforestation and urbanization on climate change, in addition to greenhouse gas emissions.
Past climate of the northern Antarctic Peninsular informs global warming debate
The seriousness of current global warming is underlined by a reconstruction of climate at Maxwell Bay in the South Shetland Islands of the Antarctic Peninsula over approximately the last 14,000 years, which appears to show that the current warming and widespread loss of glacial ice are unprecedented.
Climate variability impacts the deep sea
Deep-sea ecosystems occupying 60% of the Earth's surface could be vulnerable to the effects of global warming warn scientists writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Interactions with aerosols boost warming potential of some gases
For decades, climate scientists have worked to identify and measure key substances -- notably greenhouse gases and aerosol particles -- that affect Earth's climate.
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