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The document outlines a lecture on global climate change, focusing on the role of forests in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate impacts. It discusses the carbon cycle, global carbon budget, and the significant contributions of deforestation to carbon emissions. The lecture emphasizes the importance of sustainable forest management practices to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce emissions.

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Raiyan Zaman Adrey
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9 views28 pages

L -8

The document outlines a lecture on global climate change, focusing on the role of forests in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to climate impacts. It discusses the carbon cycle, global carbon budget, and the significant contributions of deforestation to carbon emissions. The lecture emphasizes the importance of sustainable forest management practices to enhance carbon sequestration and reduce emissions.

Uploaded by

Raiyan Zaman Adrey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Global climate change

Lecture 8

Course Teacher:
Dr. Fahmida Parvin
Associate professor
Department of Environmental Science
Jahangirnagar University
Email: [email protected]
Google Scholar ID: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Jume6GUAAAAJ&hl=en
Research gate ID: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Parvin_Fahmida
Course module outline

1. How and why the climate is changing


• Introduction to Climate Science and Climate Change
• Causes of Climate Change
• Climate Intensification: Floods, Droughts and Cyclones
2. Impacts
of climate change on people and the
environment
• Climate Change and Water Resources, Sea Level Rise
• Climate Change and Food Security, Human Health

3. Reponses and adaptation to climate change


• Climate Change and Forest Management
• Climate Change and Water Resources: Responses and Adaptation
• Principles and Practice of Climate Vulnerability Assessment
• Green energy and Climate Change
• Effective Communications in Climate Change
Questions

• Identify the roles of forests in greenhouse gas


mitigation and in adapting to climate change
impacts
• Explain the relevance and importance of key
impacts of climate change on forests
Why Focus on Forests?

is it important to understand the role of forests


in climate change mitigation and adaptation?
Why focus on forests?
Trees and other vegetation
play a crucial / central role
in the global carbon cycle.

Trees are made up of


approximately ½ carbon, which
they sequester via
photosynthesis as they grow.
Over time, via the processes
shown in the image, C is
sequestered in less labile pools
(e.g., soil). Old forests also
store large quantities of carbon
in their stems, branches, and
roots
The Global Carbon Cycle,
The Global Carbon Budget, and
The Role of Forests
Carbon budget and importance of forests
Understanding
the global carbon
budget is a good
start, because
this will graph in
detail how much
carbon dioxide
that can be
released to the
atmosphere .
The global carbon budget: terms & units
Common units of carbon stocks...
1 Gigaton (Gt)= 1 Billion metric tons = 1 Petagram (Pg) = 1x1015g
1 Megaton (Mt) = 1 Million metric tons = 1 Teragram (Tg) = 1x1012g
1 Kg Carbon (C) = 3.67 Kg Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
Common units of carbon fluxes...
Gigatons/year (Gt yr-1)= Petagrams/year (Pg yr-1)
Megatons/year (Mt yr-1) = Teragram/year (Tg
yr-1)
Common units of carbon density...
tons/hectare (t ha-1)
Kilograms/square meter (Kg m-2) = 10 t ha-1
Total global emissions
• Total global emissions: 10.5 ± 0.7 GtC in 2012, 43% over 1990
• Percentage land-use change: 38% in 1960, 17% in 1990, 8% in 2012
Total global emissions by source

• Land-use change
was the dominant
source of annual
emissions until
around 1950
• Coal consumption
continues to grow
strongly
Global carbon budget

Emissions to the atmosphere


are balanced by the sinks
Average sinks since 1870: 41%
atmosphere, 31% land, 28%
ocean
Average sinks since 1959: 45%
atmosphere, 28% land, 27%
ocean
Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation

• Deforestation is the second largest anthropogenic source of


carbon dioxide to the atmosphere after fossil fuel combustion.
• 11 million hectares of tropical forests are destroyed each year,
deforestation and land-use activities emit about 4.32 GtCO2 (1.2
Pg C) per year - reducing the role as a net carbon sink.
• Deforestation accounts for about 12% of total GHG emissions
from humans, more than the entire global transportation sector.
• If current trends continue, tropical deforestation will release
about 50% as much carbon into the atmosphere
Carbon emissions from tropical deforestation

•Trees and grasses are composed of carbon; burning them


produces greenhouse gases.
•Cultivating the soils after deforestation further contributes
to climate change. cultivation oxidizes 25-30% of the
organic matter in the upper meter of soil and releases
carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
•Forests also emit greenhouse gases to the atmosphere
when they are logged – only
•The trees are harvested end up as wood products, so the
majority of the forest vegetation ends up as waste and as
that waste decays, carbon is released into the atmosphere.
Tropical forest harvesting emissions

Tropical logging is a major GHG


emission source

Poor logging practices in particular cause major


emissions of CO2 from the harvest operations
themselves as well as from degradation, which often
leads eventually to forest clearing (deforestation).
Ryan et al.
2010
Role of forests and forest
management in CC mitigation
1. How can forests be managed to mitigate GHG emissions?
2. What decisions must be taken (and by whom) to ensure
forests are part of the solution and not the problem?
IPCC Defines
Mitigation:
• A human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the
sinks of greenhouse gases.
Adaptation
• Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual
or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates
harm or exploits beneficial opportunities.
GHG Mitigation
There are 3 main forest management
approaches for mitigating climate change.
• Emission avoidance
• Sequestration
• Substitution
Generally, FM can both reduce emissions from
forests and increase capacity of forests to
sequester carbon.

Brown 1999, Maness


2009
GHG Mitigation

Brown and
Slide courtesy of Chris Swanston, Maria Janowiak, 1999, Maness
Kristen Schmitt
2009
GHG Mitigation 1: emissions avoidance

Avoid conversion of forests


CO2
• Forest conversion (to
non-forest) and land
development liberate
carbon from biomass and
soil stocks
• Post-deforestation soil
cultivation releases 20 to
30% carbon stored in soils
(Malmsheimer et al 2008)
GHG mitigation

sustainable
management of
forests for timber
production would
also maintain carbon
stocks over time and
at the landscape scale

Brown
Slide courtesy of Chris Swanston, Maria Janowiak, and1999, Maness
Kristen Schmitt
2009
GHG Mitigation 2: sequestration
Tropical timber logging emissions can be substantial…

Emissions from
logging are
generally much
lower than
emissions from
deforestation

Ryan et al.
2010
GHG Mitigation 2: sequestration
…But logging emissions are generally a small proportion of total
carbon stock

Ryan et al.
2010
GHG Mitigation 2: sequestration
Forest management actions to increase carbon storage
▪ Reduce harvest impacts
& wastes
▪ Control fire, pests, and
disease
▪ Increase forest growth
▪ Enhance regeneration
▪ Fertilization
▪ Select for
improved/superior
stock
▪ Manage for higher C
stocks in stands

Ryan et al.
2010
GHG Mitigation 2: sequestration
Forest management actions to increase
carbon storage:
Plant trees!

Ryan et al.
2010
What is the history of land use change in
Bangladesh in the last 50 years? How it is
related to carbon emission from
Bangladesh? (maximum 300 words)
Estimating energy-related
CO2 emission growth in Bangladesh:
The LMDI decomposition method
approach
Development of national database on
long-term deforestation (1930–2014) in
Bangladesh

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