Climate change and tropical forests

Publication date: 26/10/2020
Extent: 32 pages

Contributions by: Rodney J. Keenan, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Chapter synopsis: Climate change is a major global challenge. In recent decades, tropical forests have contributed to greenhouse gas emissions due to deforestation and forest degradation, but intact and recovering forests are taking up carbon and the contribution of tropical forests to the global carbon cycle is currently about neutral. This is likely to change in the near term due to continued forest loss and the effects of climate change on tropical forest. Tropical forests, and the human communities that depend on them, are diverse, with varying sensitivity and vulnerability to climate change. This chapter provides an overview of the interactions between tropical forests and climate. It describes the role of tropical forests in the global carbon cycle, the relationship between forests and climate, the impacts of climate change on forests in different parts of the tropics and the options for future management of forests to adapt to climate change.

DOI: 10.19103/AS.2020.0074.09