Corona Daily 042: Deforestation

An extreme heat wave is currently on in the western part of America and Canada. Canada recorded an all-time high of nearly 50C (122 F) this week. At least 500 people have suddenly died due to heat. Lytton, a Canadian village in British Columbia, caught in a natural wildfire, was almost entirely burnt down.

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Forests are our key weapon in the fight to slow the Earth’s warming. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, older trees have greater ability to absorb and lock up CO2.

2019 was the second or third warmest year in recorded human history, depending on the source of data. It was expected that during the pandemic, the process of de-forestation would slow down. What happened in reality?

In yesterday’s article, I mentioned that in 2020 the global carbon emissions came down by 7%. That was the good news.

During the pandemic time, the world lost more than 100,000 square miles of tree cover. (The area of Italy or New Zealand). Tree cover loss in Russia alone was 21,000 sq miles (the size of Switzerland). Russia was followed by Brazil (13,000), Australia (9,100), USA (7,600) and Canada (4,600). In the tropics which include Brazil, India and Africa, more than 16,000 sq miles of forests vanished, a 12% increase over 2019. This was despite severe shutdowns.

The pandemic summer months saw massive wildfires in Russia, Australia and the USA. Droughts and insect infestation also played their role. Tropics, on the other hand, had mainly man-made disasters. It is either the inability to control wildfires or the deliberate expansion of agriculture, and illegal grabbing of forest land. Brazil has the worst record in this respect.

Global pandemic shutdowns reduced carbon emissions by 2.4 billion tons (7%). The loss of trees resulted in 2.6 billion tons of emissions in the atmosphere.

The deforestation more than wiped out the pandemic carbon savings.

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The forests lost in wildfires can grow back. From the carbon viewpoint it is not the same, though. A newly planted sapling will take decades to acquire the CO2 absorption capacity of a 100-year old tree.

Forests lost in the tropics rarely come back. The destroyed forest lands are generally used for cattle ranching or growth of crops like soy. In the southern Amazon, Brazil has illegally claimed large swathes of land. Wildfires in Brazil often happen when humans light fires to clear land, and then can’t control the fire. Last year, in Brazil’s vast western wetland region known as the Pantanal, out-of-control fires consumed a mindboggling 30% of the rich forest land.

Deforestation sets up a vicious cycle. The destroyed forests raise the carbon emissions making the earth hotter still. The hotter Earth causes more wildfires ravaging more forests.

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Every year, the ever-growing world population creates millions of extra mouths to feed. More meat-eating requires even higher amount of vegetables (because some animals we eat consume multiple times more vegetables).

Climate experts suggest (a) checking the growth of the world population through consistent family planning strategies; particularly in Asia and Africa (b) learn to increase the efficiency of existing agricultural land. Produce more in the same plot. (c) Reduce food waste. This is something we can do at our homes and when we eat out. (d) Shifting human diets to include less meat and fewer dairy products. The vegetarian and vegan movements are not ideological. Their success will certainly restrict agricultural land expansion. (e) Planting massive new forests, a process known as “afforestation”. This could remove substantial amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere each year. However, doing this on a massive scale could result in a sharp increase in food prices, according to a report.

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Our destruction of nature is the root cause of pandemics. Razing forests and hunting wildlife bring people into contact with the viruses and microbes animals carry. This is well known.

Destroying trees and forests also cause irreversible climate change. The covid pandemic showed that the loss of forests increases CO2 emissions that can’t be saved by the world’s strictest lockdowns.

Ravi