Reacción a "The decline of European forests in their role in combating climate change is analyzed"

A large part of our emissions come "for free" thanks to forests, which transform CO2 into organic matter and, therefore, eliminate the atmospheric CO2 that is behind climate change. On a global scale, forests absorb around 30% of all emissions, which is known as the terrestrial carbon sink. On a European scale, their contribution is much more modest, barely reaching 8% of the nearly 4.8 billion tons we emit annually. This publication does not provide new data, but rather compiles some of the published literature on this topic and indicates how the current European carbon sink has decreased to 6% of emissions during 2020-2022. This decrease in the terrestrial sink is well known and is due, in part, to phenomena such as heat waves or drought.

What is most striking about this article is not the information it provides, but what it omits. The article attributes part of the decline in the carbon sink to an alleged increase in tree felling. It is based on a study published by this same group in 2020 that contained significant methodological errors. In fact, subsequent studies showed how these supposed fellings actually corresponded to areas affected, for example, by the processionary caterpillar, but the authors do not cite these subsequent studies. Nor do they include recent studies that quantify how one of the main carbon stores is found, precisely, in felled wood and in "non-living" sinks. That is, felled wood does not disappear, but is transformed into another product that contributes to mitigating climate change.

The authors also overlook how the main factor behind the decline in water resources in forests lies in forest growth itself. The absence of forestry activity, therefore, is one of the factors that increases water scarcity and, consequently, worsens climate change-induced drought and reduces the capacity to store carbon.

The article's information on forest fires includes recommendations such as reforestation with a diversity of species, a practice linked to the increase in the virulence of forest fires.

Beyond these and other omissions, the article makes it clear how our forests' capacity to mitigate climate change is important, but insufficient, and that forestry is our main tool to ensure both their carbon sink capacity and the survival of forests in a scenario of global warming.