Wed 21st April 2021 | 08:56 PM
Huge areas of African forest are highly vulnerable to climate change and man-made activity, according to the most detailed inventory yet of the second largest contiguous forest area on Earth
Paris, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 21st Apr, 2021 ) :Huge areas of African forest are highly vulnerable to climate change and man-made activity, according to the most detailed inventory yet of the second largest contiguous forest area on Earth.
The rainforests of central Africa store more carbon per hectare than the Amazon and have a higher density of large trees than anywhere else.
They are a crucial carbon sink but are under threat in several countries due to logging, over-hunting and ever-growing road infrastructure, as well as climate change.
Study Shows the Significant Effect of Climate Change on Central African Forests
A
global research work coordinated by scientists from the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and CIRAD has disclosed the composition of the tropical forests in Central Africa and their susceptibility to the rising pressure from human activity and climate change predicted in the forthcoming years.
Gradient of the vulnerability of Central African forests to climate change and increased human pressure by 2085. The purple areas are the most vulnerable to climate change and human pressure; the green areas are the least vulnerable to both; the blue areas are very vulnerable to climate change and not very vulnerable to human pressure and vice versa for the orange areas. Image Credit: Institut de Recherche pour le Développement.
04-21-2021
By
Earth.com staff writer
Forests in Central Africa are not equally vulnerable to climate change, according to a new study from The Research Institute for Development.
Home to the world’s second-largest area of dense tropical rainforest, Central Africa is a biodiversity hotspot. The future of Central African forests is threatened by climate change and human development.
In order to best protect Africa’s valuable forest ecosystems, experts must gain a better understanding of how sensitive they will be to upcoming changes.
“The forest area of Central Africa is far from being a homogeneous green carpet. It is home to a wide variety of forests with different characteristics, including their own particular carbon storage capacity,” explained study first author Maxime Réjou-Méchain.
Research Press Release
Nature
April 22, 2021
A map of the make-up of central Africa’s forests highlights the vulnerability of key regions in response to potential future climate and anthropogenic changes. The map, revealed in this week’s Nature, provides a benchmark for scientists and policymakers drawing up strategies to protect this vital resource.
Central Africa is home to the world’s second largest rainforest, but as the human population grows and the world warms, these African forests are increasingly under threat. To protect and manage the forests, an understanding of their current composition is needed.
Using a dataset of 6 million trees from more than 180,000 field plots, spread over the 5 main forested countries in central Africa (Cameroon, Gabon, Central African Republic, Republic of the Congo and Democratic Republic of the Congo), Maxime Réjou-Méchain, Sylvie Gourlet-Fleury and colleagues produced a continuous map of the composition of central African forests.
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