• About
    • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Climate News Network Archive
  • Contact
The climate news that makes a difference.
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
SUBSCRIBE
DONATE
No Result
View All Result
The Energy Mix
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities
  FEATURED
BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022 January 31, 2023
Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB January 31, 2023
Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty January 31, 2023
Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds January 31, 2023
Danske Bank Quits New Fossil Fuel Financing January 23, 2023
Next
Prev

Deforested Tropical Soils Can Recover Quickly, But Old Growth Still Needs Protection

December 13, 2021
Reading time: 2 minutes

Frameme~commonswiki/Wikimedia Commons

Frameme~commonswiki/Wikimedia Commons

32
SHARES
 

Soils on deforested tropical lands can recover their fertility in less than a decade, but it will still take a century for the newly-regrown trees to fully recover their carbon storage capacity and species diversity, according to a new study in the journal Science.

The research “shows that tropical forests can recover naturally and remarkably quickly on abandoned lands,” the Washington Post reports, adding that the new forest growth can have an important impact on atmospheric carbon levels. The secondary forests “are able to sequester more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere than established forests, like the voracious food intake of a sprouting teen compared to that of an older adult.”

  • Be among the first to read The Energy Mix Weekender
  • A brand new weekly digest containing exclusive and essential climate stories from around the world.
  • The Weekender:The climate news you need.
New!
Subscribe

“I was totally surprised how quickly it went,” said lead author Lourens Poorter, an ecologist at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. “These forests can recover very fast and they can do it by themselves.”

“It does provide a glimmer of hope for this process of tropical reforestation,” said conservation biologist Meg Lowman. “My only caution is that I don’t think it’s ever a substitute for the importance of saving big trees and old growth forests.”

Poorter agreed that it’s crucial to maintain current forest cover. “First, stop deforestation and conserve old growth forests,” he told the Post, adding that deforested lands’ ability to recover “is not a licence to kill.”

While older forests store more carbon dioxide than younger ones, those stocks are released when deforestation occurs. But the new information is that cleared land can recover if it’s subsequently abandoned, largely without human intervention. The subsurface soil in tropical forests “often remains relatively vibrant after deforestation, which enables a faster recovery,” the news story states. “The warmth and humidity of the tropics also allow trees to grow extremely fast, with some species climbing more than a dozen feet per year.”

In all of that activity, “the influence of humans is relatively minor compared to what nature itself is doing,” Poorter said. “The conditions are that there has to be nearby forests, and the soil can’t be too degraded.”



in Biodiversity & Habitat, Carbon Levels & Measurement, Forests & Deforestation, International Agencies & Studies

The latest climate news and analysis, direct to your inbox

Subscribe

Related Posts

Mike Mozart/Flickr
Ending Emissions

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

January 31, 2023
324
Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures
Canada

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE
Ending Emissions

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

Trending Stories

Mike Mozart/Flickr

BP Predicts Faster Oil and Gas Decline as Clean Energy Spending Hits $1.1T in 2022

January 31, 2023
324
/Pikrepo

Four Decades of Research Show Gas Stoves as ‘Overlooked’ Risk to Indoor Air, Child Health

December 7, 2020
1k
jasonwoodhead23/flickr

Canada, U.K., U.S. Must Cut Oil and Gas 76% by 2030 to Keep 1.5° Alive, New Analysis Finds

March 23, 2022
505
Green Energy Futures/Flickr

Australian Suburb Connects Community Battery to Rooftop Solar

May 3, 2022
10
Sam Balto/YouTube

Elementary School’s Bike Bus Brings ‘Sheer Joy’ to Portland Neighbourhood

October 16, 2022
259
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_fracturing

U.S. Emissions Grow Only Slightly, Offer Hope for Meeting Paris Targets

January 12, 2023
79

Recent Posts

Gina Dittmer/PublicDomainPictures

Canada Needs Oil and Gas Emissions Cap to Hit 2030 Goal: NZAB

January 31, 2023
196
CONFENIAE

Ecuador’s Amazon Drilling Plan Shows Need for Fossil Non-Proliferation Treaty

January 31, 2023
61
Ken Teegardin www.SeniorLiving.Org/flickr

Virtual Power Plants Hit an ‘Inflection Point’

January 31, 2023
125
/snappy goat

Rainforest Carbon Credits from World’s Biggest Provider are ‘Largely Worthless’, Investigation Finds

January 31, 2023
94
Victorgrigas/wikimedia commons

World Bank Climate Reforms Too ‘Timid and Slow,’ Critics Warn

January 31, 2023
42
Doc Searls/Twitter

Guilbeault Could Intervene on Ontario Greenbelt Development

January 31, 2023
132
Next Post
Chris Allen/geograph

Replacing Coal With Biomass Threatens Forests, Climate Targets, COP 26 Panel Warns

The Energy Mix - The climate news you need

Copyright 2023 © Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy Policy and Copyright
  • Cookie Policy

Proudly partnering with…

scf_withtagline
No Result
View All Result
  • Canada
  • UK & Europe
  • Fossil Fuels
  • Ending Emissions
  • Community Climate Finance
  • Clean Electricity Grid
  • Cities & Communities

Copyright 2022 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.

Manage Cookie Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behaviour or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage vendors Read more about these purposes
View preferences
{title} {title} {title}