Without immediate concerted action by governments, climate change could have a devastating effect on the world’s forests and the nearly one billion people who depend on them for their livelihoods, warned forest scientists in a report to be released next week at the UN climate conference in Poland. Scientists from the Center for International Forestry Research, CIFOR, in Bogor say adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of forests and forest-dependent communities are urgently needed. Forests will experience an unprecedented combination of flooding, drought, wildfire, and other effects of a warming climate over at least the next 100 years. “We have identified two broad categories of adaptation measures for forest ecosystems,” said Bruno Locatelli, a CIFOR scientist and lead author of the report.

Una combinación de impactos en los bosques como consecuencia del cambio climático pondrá en riesgo las masas forestales del planeta. Inundaciones, sequías, incendios forestales o reducción de la captación y evaporación del agua sucederán en los bosques a lo largo de este siglo, según un análisis del Centro Internacional de Investigación Forestal (CIFOR, por sus siglas en inglés). Para este centro de estudios, que busca mejorar el bienestar humano, «se deben tomar medidas de inmediato para adaptar los bosques al cambio climático». Entre otras acciones proponen «la protección de los ecosistemas contra perturbaciones climáticas y la selección de especies que puedan soportar mejor los cambios previstos en el clima».

Forests are extremely vulnerable to climate change that is set to bring more wildfires and floods and quick action is needed to aid millions of poor people who depend on forests, a study said on Thursday. The report, by the Jakarta-based Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), urged delegates at a U.N. climate meeting in Poznan, Poland, from December 1-12 to work out new ways to safeguard forests in developing nations. It said climate change could have impacts ranging from a drying out of cloud forests in mountainous regions of Central America — making wildfires more frequent — to swamping mangroves in Asia as seas rise.

Similar article appeared in The Times of India

A group of forest scientists has warned that unless immediate action is taken, climate change could have a devastating effect on the world’s forests and the nearly 1 billion people who depend on them for their livelihoods. The researchers, from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), called for the implementation of adaptation measures to reduce the vulnerability of forests and forestdependent communities that will experience an unprecedented combination of climate change associated disturbances like flooding, drought, wildfire, and other environmental challenges in the next 100 years. According to “Facing an Uncertain Future: How Forests and People can Adapt to Climate Change”, a new book by CIFOR, immediate measures must be taken now to adapt forests to climate change.

Similar article appeared in Hindustan Times, New Kerala, Times of India

Se non verra’ intrapresa nessuna azione immediata a tutela delle foreste, nel giro di un secolo i cambiamenti climatici potrebbero avere un effetto devastante per quasi un miliardo di persone sul Pianeta. Questo quanto prevede un recente rapporto del Centro internazionale di ricerca forestale (Cifor), dal titolo ”Affrontare un futuro incerto: come le foreste e le popolazioni possono adattarsi ai cambiamenti climatici” che verra’ presentato ufficialmente il prossimo 5 dicembre a Poznan, in occasione della Conferenza Onu sul clima, al via lunedi’ prossimo. Un vertice dove si gioca una partita importante in vista della definizione dell’accordo che prendera’ il posto del protocollo di Kyoto, nel 2012. Secondo Frances Seymour, direttore generale del Cifor, la questione foreste e’ stata fino ad oggi sottovalutata, sia nei contesti nazionali sia nei negoziati internazionali. ”La sfida dell’ adattamento – ha spiegato Seymour – e’ sempre stata considerata secondaria rispetto a quella della mitigazione (cioe’ del taglio delle emissioni), e invece le due sono indissolubilmente legate”.

Les forêts sont très sensibles au changement climatique et sont très menacées par ce phénomène qui pourrait conduire à leur assèchement, à leur destruction par le feu ou à leur pourrissement par l’inondation. Les forêts sont extrêmement sensibles au changement climatique qui devrait provoquer plus d’incendies et d’inondations, et il est urgent d’agir rapidement pour aider les millions de personnes pauvres qui dépendent des forêts, d’après les résultats d’une étude publiée jeudi. L’étude, publiée par le Centre pour la Recherche Forestière Internationale (CIFOR) a recommandé aux délégués qui participeront à la conférence climatique des Nations Unies à Poznan en Pologne, du 1er au 12 décembre, de chercher à élaborer de nouvelles manières de protéger les forêts dans les nations en développement.

Similar article appeared in Yahoo ! News France

Tutkimuksen on tehnyt Jakartassa sijaitseva Kansainvälinen metsäntutkimuskeskus (CIFOR), ja se julkistetaan YK:n ilmastomuutoskokouksessa Poznanissa, Puolassa joulukuun alussa. Suomalainen CIFORin metsäekologi ja akatemiatutkija Markku Kanninen, raportin toinen kirjoittaja, sanoi uutistoimisto Reuterille, että monissa metsissä pienilläkin ilmastonmuutoksilla saattaa olla tuhoisia vaikutuksia.

Forest owners want full access to credits. But insurers suggest half should be retained in buffer funds in case forests vanish in a few decades. If a forest disappeared, credits in the funds would go to the insurers.”How much land managers will see of the price is what the excitement is about,” said Frances Seymour, the head of the Centre for International Forestry Research in Indonesia. Placing a value on forests could give developing nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia a big incentive to do more to slow rising greenhouse gas emissions. But the economic slowdown may make rich nations reluctant to take part.