World's forests failed to curb 2023 climate emissions, study finds

30/7/2024 6:48

        Forests and other land ecosystems failed to curb climate change in 2023 as intense drought in the Amazon rainforest and record wildfires in Canada
        hampered their natural ability to absorb carbon dioxide, according to a study presented on Monday.
        
        That means a record amount of carbon dioxide entered Earth's atmosphere last year, further feeding global warming, the researchers said.
        
        Plant life helps to slow climate change by taking in huge amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas driving global warming. Forests and other land ecosystems on average absorb nearly a third of annual emissions from fossil fuels, industry and other human causes.
        
        But in 2023, that carbon sink collapsed, according to study co-author Philippe Ciais of the Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences (LSCE), a French research organization.
        
        "The sink is a pump, and we are pumping less carbon from the atmosphere into the land," Ciais said in an interview. "Suddenly the pump is choking, and it's pumping less."