Forests and other land ecosystems pushed out almost as much carbon dioxide as they absorbed in 2023, a development which will pile the pressure on governments trying to stick to global warming targets, the New Scientist reported.
Heatwaves, droughts and wildfires took their toll on forests around the globe last year, nearly cancelling out a major natural sink of the greenhouse gas, the story went on. Researchers say the decline is probably temporary but cautioned that the sink usually removes about a quarter of our annual CO2 emissions from the atmosphere.
During the first half of the year, the researchers attributed the change to slower vegetation growth in the northern hemisphere, along with extreme wildfires in Canada, other parts of the Arctic, and South-East Asia, the report continued.
Drought and fires weakening the Amazon carbon sink in the second half of the year made up the largest portion of the change, offsetting increased take-up in places like central Africa that saw wetter conditions. “It’s pretty grim,” said Scott Denning at Colorado State University. “If there’s no more sink, then CO2 will start to increase much faster.”
Read the full story: New Scientist
- By Sean O’Meara
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