Industrial nations may want to work with developing nations to slow and eventually stop deforestation in order to stabilize greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere, according to a Texas Tech researcher.
Hayhoe was one of 11 top international climate and forest researchers who authored a study released in the journal Science. In this study, the team analyzed how reducing deforestation in developing countries could contribute to the global emission targets required to stabilize atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.
Researchers found cutting deforestation rates in half by mid-century could account for 12 percent of the total emissions reductions needed to safely stabilize atmospheric levels of heat-trapping gases. This would represent an important step towards preventing possible dangerous impacts from global climate change.
"Reducing tropical deforestation is key to decreasing global emissions," Hayhoe said. "The reductions we looked at are projected to cost less than $20 per ton of carbon dioxide. This makes slowing deforestation one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce our emissions globally, especially when compared to the cost of weaning ourselves off our dependence on fossil fuels."
Prior to the Industrial Revolution in the 1850s, the planet's
levels of carbon dioxide, the primary heat-trapping gas released by
human activities, sat at about 280 parts per million. Today, carbon
dioxide levels have reached over 385 parts per million, and are
continuing to grow at more than 2 parts per million per year.
"Given the importance of limiting atmospheric carbon dioxide levels to 450 ppm or below, in order to prevent what most scientists view as significant risk to human welfare and the environment," says Hayhoe, "the U.S. should support the efforts of developing countries as well as take responsibility for reducing our own emissions."
The results of this study emphasize the essential contribution
tropical countries can make to the global effort to avert dangerous
climate change, said Peter Frumhoff, co-author and director of Science
and Policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.