On Monday, March 20, the IPCC releases the Executive Summary of its Sixth Assessment Report, which is a summary of the more than 10,000 pages of work it has published since its last synthesis in late 2014. At MORFO, we wanted to share with you the key forest-related findings. The good news is that FSC France had already done some preliminary analysis work, with a focus on forests.
Five key points from the IPCC assessment reports
The following are the top 5 findings along with additional information:
1 - Forests, especially tropical forests, will be strongly impacted by climate change in the short term. Thus, "ecosystems that have already reached or exceeded their adaptive limits include some tropical forests." Remember that these forests are natural carbon sinks!
2 - Adaptation to climate change must take into account biodiversity and human societies in a systemic way, rather than focusing solely on carbon capture and storage. We must consider the impact of climate change on all living organisms and communities, and find ways to adapt to these changes in a way that is sustainable and equitable for all.
3 - Responsible forest management and ecosystem conservation and restoration are major challenges. We need to find ways to manage forests in a sustainable and environmentally sound manner, as well as find ways to restore ecosystems that have been damaged by human activity.
4 - Cooperation and inclusive decision making with local communities and indigenous peoples, and recognition of their inherent rights, are critical to successful forest adaptation in many regions. In our last newsletter, we provided an example of an excellent initiative where 50 Indigenous women from the United States, Canada, and Australia gathered in Karuk, California to participate in the first all-female, Indigenous camp focused on training and learning about fire restoration in the field. Karuk is one of the largest tribes in California and suffered significant losses in the 2020 Slater Fire, including 150 homes and two lives, one of which was an elderly person.
5 - Despite the difficulty, it is still possible to achieve the 1.5°C warming target by 2100 if we act now. We must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and invest in carbon sequestration solutions, as well as find ways to adapt to the effects of climate change in ways that are sustainable and equitable for all.
Some reminders about the IPCC and the synthesis of the 6th report
The IPCC publishes the final part of the sixth assessment report, the synthesis report. The IPCC reports are based on scientific evidence derived from the analysis of more than 500,000 scientific publications from around the world. This latest report synthesizes the key data and information contained in the reports of the three working groups of the Sixth Assessment Report:
- Working Group I (WG I): the physical basis of climate change, published August 9, 2021,
- Working Group II (WG II): Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, released February 28, 2022,
- Working Group III (WG III): Climate Change Mitigation [feasible options, i.e., policy options and measures to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, socio-economic costs of these options, published April 4, 2022.
This synthesis report consists of a short summary for policy makers of about ten pages and a full report of about fifty pages. The text of the synthesis report is written in accessible, non-technical language, particularly for policy makers (within national governments), administrations and policy advisors, as well as other experts, NGOs and journalists. It is important to note that the IPCC experts are doing this analysis work on a voluntary basis.
