Forests, oceans, floods… We are talking about the climate this morning in the newspapers. With first of all this dossier on the front page of Release devoted to the French forest. A forest that suffers… Paradoxically, underlines the newspaper, “ for two centuries, wooded areas have continued to expand in France. Only then, their health is deteriorating at a steady pace. ‘Tree mortality has doubled in five years, it’s unheard of, details an expert quoted by the newspaper. There are epidemics of insect pests, droughts and exotic diseases that attack the weakened trees, which still leads to mortality’. »
Moreover, emphasizes Release“ the trees grow more slowly due to the lack of water and the high temperatures, which slows down the absorption of CO2. Add to this the extension of forest fires, as well as the increase in cutting, and you will have a cocktail of the pressures to which French forests are subjected. »
Result, note Freed“ the prospect of seeing the French forest lose its suction capacity to become a net source of CO2 production is not unrealistic. This is all the more worrying since the government, in its environmental strategy, is betting on forests that would continue to play their role as carbon sinks. It errs there out of optimism, consider a number of experts, who already recommend reducing exploitation and felling… at a time when wood is on the rise for its ecological qualities. »
The oceans, carbon pumps
“ We often talk about the essential role of forests in absorbing CO2 in the atmosphere and the precious help they provide in the fight against climate change. But the seas and oceans are also formidable biological carbon pumps. »
This is emphasized The Parisian. ” An international research team leaves tomorrow Friday to explore the depths of the North Atlantic “, tells us the newspaper. Objective : “ better understand how the Big Blue captures carbon. »
Phytoplankton are known to play an essential role in this process. But how precisely? This is what the two ships of IFREMER’s oceanographic fleet will tackle, with no less than 65 specialists in oceanography and marine and molecular biology on board, for a forty-day mission. The research should then be spread over four years…” Eventually, specify again Le Parisien, a better understanding of the biological pump that the oceans are should make it possible to identify the consequences of climate change on their capacity to absorb carbon. And to better explain why it is essential to preserve marine biodiversity. »
Central California: after the drought, feet in the water…
The climate always: Le Figaro takes us to central California threatened by the waters…
Indeed, the town of Corcoran, 22,500 inhabitants, and its region, could be engulfed… In question, the torrential rains which have fallen on California since the beginning of the year, and the approximately 17 meters of snow which have fallen this winter on the Sierra Nevada, three times more than usual. A vanished lake, Lake Tulare, has just reappeared, in the space of three weeks. This lake was 130 km long in the 19th century before being dried up by intensive agriculture. The waters do not occupy all this space, far from it, but the town of Corcoran already has its feet in the water and the 23 km dyke which protects it from the rising waters must absolutely be reinforced…
In effect, “ the lake continues to expand, as shown by the latest NASA satellite photos. Its depth reaches up to 10 meters in places and its current surface covers 260 km². »
Result, note Le Figaro : “ thousands of area residents lost their jobs in submerged fields and entire communities had to be evacuated. “And to say that there is” Just eight months, this arid land was covered with fields of cotton, pistachios, almonds, tomatoes, dairy farms and dwellings. It is estimated that the drying up of the ‘agricultural Atlantis’, as the region is nicknamed, could take two years. The soils are saturated and the clay prevents the absorption of water. »
But the story will probably not end there, point again Le Figaro : “ climatologists predict the imminent arrival in California of the El Niño climatic phenomenon and, with it, extreme precipitation, heat waves, storms and (more) floods… »