At COP28: Swiss experts call for greater commitment to biodiversity

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Climate protection measures should not harm biodiversity, argued Dirk Karger of the Federal Research Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape (WSL), according to a statement from the research institute at the World Climate Conference COP28. Because climate and biodiversity influence each other, the experts emphasized in the Blue Zone of the conference, where the official negotiations take place.

As an example, they mentioned mixed forests, which reflect more sunlight and heat up less than pure coniferous forests. Because conifers have to close their stomata earlier in the heat so as not to lose too much water. Stomata are microscopic pores in the leaves and needles of trees that serve to regulate gas exchange between the plant and its environment. By closing stomata earlier, pure coniferous forests evaporate less water overall, losing the cooling effect of evaporation and indirectly contributing to warming, as the WSL explained.

In the research project ‘Feedbacks’, researchers including Krager from WSL and Tom Crowther from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich) are investigating such links between biodiversity and climate. At COP28 they released a statement calling on politicians to take the research results into account.

Climate protection and protection of biological diversity must therefore be viewed together. From a climate protection perspective, it may seem sensible to plant monocultures of fast-growing tree species to capture as much CO2 as possible. However, because monocultures are much more sensitive to gusts of wind or pests, there is a risk that the trees will quickly die again and the bound CO2 will be released back into the atmosphere, according to the WSL.

(SDA)

Source: Blick