"Light planets" gradually stop cleaning the air
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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It is considered to be that the developed regions and countries that most generate carbon dioxide are the main damage to the environment. It is they who bear the entire burden of responsibility for the so-called “global warming”. The study, which was conducted by representatives of the University of Edinburgh, showed: the economy of less developed regions is “not guilty”. At that, the hour of reckoning is close: the forest tropical plantings, which are rightly called “the lungs of the planet,” gradually stop purifying the air and emit oxygen.
Forests play a basic role in the oxygen saturation of the atmosphere and in the maintenance of life on the planet. Scientists are sounding the alarm, trying to draw public attention to such a problem: the generation of oxygen and carbon dioxide on Earth at the moment is almost equivalent.
Forest plantations are subject to intensive logging. This is necessary for agricultural needs, for the location of livestock farms. However, just animal husbandry is the main generator of methane, which plays a key role in influencing climate change. By the way, this effect is 20 times more negatively affecting the state of climate than the well-known carbon dioxide.
Scientists estimate: active deforestation and soil depletion have led to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions in the tropics by about 20%. Fortunately, there are still pristine forests that can somehow compensate for the increased load. The excessive content of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere even accelerates their growth, but the forecast of specialists for the next several decades is completely disappointing.
Representatives from the University of Edinburgh are calling for the speedy organization of extensive additional research on this issue. Project leader Dr. Edd Mitchhard says: “We find it difficult to predict the further impact of tropical forests on climate change. We do not know what will happen with the climate further, and we can’t be sure that in certain countries all obligations for the conservation of these forests will be fulfilled. We regret, but our project proved: forests gradually lose their ability to resist climate change, and not only cease to release oxygen, they also become generators of greenhouse gases. ”
Over the past few years, scientists have obtained evidence of major climate restructuring, almost weekly. Experts do not get tired to focus public attention on the fact that the time has come for urgent and active intervention to solve the problem. For example, a change in the temperature values of the Barents Sea has already been recorded, which sooner or later will have a negative impact on the entire Arctic. And from the opposite side, on the territory of Antarctica, the melting of the ice accelerated three times. Such facts indicate not only mass global warming. This is the first "bell", foreshadowing the forthcoming periods of powerful hurricane winds and massive destructive flooding.
The publication is presented by the journal Nature.