Climate crisis: what can trees really do for us?

  • Date: 20-Oct-2021
  • Source: World Economic Forum
  • Sector:Industrial
  • Country:Middle East
  • Who else needs to know?

Climate crisis: what can trees really do for us?





Trees that are over 100 years old have witnessed massive changes in the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, say experts.

The number changes dramatically from 280 parts per million 175 years ago to 415ppm in present day, still rising rapidly.

Measuring how these trees are affected, including their growth, weight and chemical make-up can help us understand their role in mitigating climate change.



By the power of sunlight, forests turn huge amounts of carbon in the air into food: sugars for themselves and leaves, bark and roots that feed animals and microbes. Respiration, which happens in the cells of all living things in the forest, releases energy from that food and carbon dioxide (CO₂) back into the air.

As the amount of carbon in the atmosphere rises, this eat-and-be-eaten cycle increases to keep up. Metabolically, trees are running just to stand still. In the course of all this cycling, forests are locking up the major part of the 33% of human-caused emissions removed from the atmosphere into the land each year.

I (Rob) work in a forest full of beautiful 175-year-old oaks. Global CO₂ levels were around 280 parts per million (ppm) when these trees were seedlings. Now global