By Harry Cooper – Forests are some of the most important places on Earth. They provide numerous environmental benefits from heat mitigation, control of climate change through carbon storage, prevention of extreme weather and drought, and protection of biodiversity. Many activists, climate movements, and environmental policy makers have spent a lot of time focusing on how to save the rainforests of the Amazon, Southern Asia, and Africa. While these rainforests are a massive carbon sink and home to hundreds of different species, there is another kind of forest that is often overlooked in conservation efforts, and is just as important as rainforests, the boreal forests.
A Very Important Biome
Boreal forests, or Taigas, are cold forests in the northernmost parts of the northern hemisphere in regions such as Russia, Alaska, Canada, and Scandinavia. These forests are some of the largest in the world and are home to many different species of plants and animals. The large swath of boreal forest that covers much of the Arctic tundra is also home to the world’s largest carbon sink, the boreal permafrost. This means that the boreal forest and permafrost store more carbon than anywhere else in the world and prevent it from getting into the atmosphere.
Unfortunately for the Boreal forest, it is expected to face one of the biggest temperature shifts due to climate warming. This will disrupt the boreal forest ecosystems and threaten to release some of its stored carbon into the atmosphere. Along with the threat of human caused global warming, humans are also threatening the boreal forest through large scale industrial logging that is causing alarming rates of deforestation across boreal regions around the world.
The boreal forests are at a high risk of disappearing. This could not only threaten the wildlife habitat of plants and animals that live in the boreal forest, but because the boreal forests of the world contain so much carbon, the disappearing of the boreal forests could help make global warming even worse.
What is a Boreal Forest?
The boreal forest is a big, largely unmanaged northern forest, and one of the most important things to understand about this forest is just how big it is. The boreal forest is the world’s largest biome on land and makes up about 30% of all forested areas worldwide. Boreal forests also contain more surface level freshwater environments than any other biome in the world.
Boreal forests are mainly characterized by having small amounts of deciduous trees, many coniferous tree species, usually spruce, fir, and pine, and experiencing freezing temperatures for six to eight months out of the year, leaving much of the ground to be covered in permafrost. While this environment may seem incredibly barren and lacking in biodiversity, it is actually home to many different species. The boreal forest contains 20 different plant species, including coniferous trees, broadleaf trees, and several varieties of shrubs, 85 different species of mammals, including bison, grizzly bears, and elk, 130 fish species including walleye, salmon, and trout, various bird species depending on the region of the forest including, woodpeckers, storks, and eagles, and over 32,000 species of insects.
The Boreal Forest and Climate Change
Like all ecosystems throughout the world, ecosystems in the boreal zone are becoming increasingly affected by global warming. This is causing drastic changes in the boreal region and around the world as Asia’s and North America’s boreal forest continue to warm at alarming rates.
Climate Change In The Boreal Forest
Global warming has caused almost the entire world to start warming, but one thing many people don’t understand about global warming is that the whole world is not warming evenly; some parts of the world are warming quickly, some slowly, and in a few cases, even cooling down. Unfortunately, one of the fastest warming places on Earth is in the boreal forest.
The boreal forests of the world have been warming at an average rate of 0.5 degrees Celsius per decade, and by the end of the century we could see the boreal forest warm as much as up to eleven degrees Celsius. This is especially alarming as many believe that the boreal forest ecosystem will not be able to catch up to these rapidly warming temperatures. It is estimated that the climate zones are shifting northwards in the boreal regions at a rate ten times faster than trees are able to migrate.
Increasing Forest Fires
One striking consequence of the rapidly increasing temperature in the boreal forest is the increase in the amount of forest fires. According to the National Parks Service, fires in the boreal forest are common historically and can even be helpful in establishing new forests as they help remove thick undergrowth and allow for new growth to begin. While the coniferous forests of the boreal zone are normally tolerant to fire, as global warming causes boreal forests to become hotter and drier, fires have become more and more common in the boreal forest. This is causing less diversity of plants, harming trees that are normally resistant to fires, and most disturbingly, quickening the melting of the boreal permafrost.
The Boreal Forest Carbon Sink
One of the most unique aspects of the boreal forest is how much carbon is stored there. While the massive coniferous trees hold large amounts of carbon in their roots, trunks, and branches, the real carbon storing power of the boreal forest is in the underground permafrost. Permafrost is a layer of rocks, sand, and ice that sits beneath the ground of the boreal forest. This permafrost holds massive amounts of carbon and is thought to be the largest carbon sink in the world.
This carbon sink has historically prevented carbon dioxide from getting into the atmosphere, but as the climate in the boreal forest warms, and wildfires become more common, this vital layer of permafrost is starting to melt. The melting of the boreal permafrost has started to turn the biggest carbon sink on the planet into a source of carbon into the atmosphere, causing climate to change even faster, and further pushing global warming in the boreal forest and around the world.
Deforestation in the Boreal Forest
Another issue boreal forests are facing is deforestation. In the Russian and North American boreal forest, loggers are cutting down trees at alarming rates. While climate change and forest fires are proving large threats to boreal forests, excessive logging rates are also creating a grim future for these great northern forests.
Deforestation in Canada’s Boreal Forest
One of the worst places in the boreal forest for deforestation is in the Canadian boreal forest. Canada has boasted in the past about having almost no deforestation, but what remains of Canada’s boreal forest tells a different story. Canada’s boreal forest is the world’s largest intact forest with the largest carbon dense boreal ecosystem in the world.
Nearly 1.6 million acres of Canada’s boreal forest have been cut down in Ontario alone. While the Canadian boreal forest is still the largest intact forest on the planet, Canada is now one of the top three countries for deforestation in the world, and has left the once beautiful forested Canadian landscape covered in the scars and remnants of industrial logging.
Consequences of Deforestation
Deforestation in the boreal forest has had some devastating impacts on the ecosystem. By removing trees from the forest, deforestation helps to speed up the process of releasing carbon from the carbon sink of the boreal forest. In addition, the industrial machinery and processing used in the lumber industry also burn a lot of fossil fuels and release even more carbon emissions into the air.
Boreal Forest and Religion
Indigenous and faith leaders are working hard to protect northern Canada’s boreal forests. Religion News Service discusses how these leaders are advocating for Proctor and Gamble to stop cutting down boreal forests and other old-growth forests to produce their Charmin toilet paper.
The article describes how “Indigenous spirituality for many North American cultures is intimately tied in with the land, which native peoples see as an extension of themselves. Everywhere Indigenous people live their lives — the sites where they build their houses, harvest wild rice, hunt and collect traditional medicine — are spiritual sites as well.” Protecting boreal forests is also about protecting indigenous peoples and their way of life. We have much to learn from their way of life as we transition our society to living in harmony with the land.
The article in Religion News Service references an important letter written in 2020 by Cincinnati religious leaders to Proctor and Gamble. In this letter, these leaders describes their concerns:
As people of faith, and leaders in our city, we write to you on behalf of our current communities and future generations who are currently experiencing the recent upheaval of daily life due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and who will also live to experience another one of the greatest upheavals in our modern era — climate change. While many news stories have been focused on the curious trend of toilet paper disappearing off of store shelves, today, we are writing to draw attention to the environmental and social impacts of your tissue products.
Protecting the Earth has always been a spiritual and religious commitment that people of all faiths from all over the world have embraced. The delicacy of nature’s balance depends on each one of us doing our part to protect it. With that, we are committed to caring for all of creation: the air that we breathe, the water that sustains life, the fruits of the land that nourish us, and the entire web of life without which humanity itself cannot flourish. Climate change and the loss of biodiversity are a threat to our future, and addressing them is a moral and spiritual imperative. We believe our response to global climate change should be a sign of our respect for creation, and that we all must take this climate crisis seriously and act with urgency to fulfill our moral obligation to steward the Earth.
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