Canada’s Boreal forest is shrinking due to climate change, which is causing it to burn, drift and be devoured by insects.
The Boreal forest, second only to the Amazon forest, is critical to the future of the planet, according to AFP. Forest fires, melting permafrost, insect infestations, warming temperatures and drifting trees have all weakened the forest that encircles the Arctic and stretches across Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and Alaska in recent years.
According to AFP, ‘the forest is encroaching on the tundra, and the prairies are gradually taking the place of the trees’
With rising temperatures,’drunken trees’ have become a common occurrence; trees are tilted sideways as permafrost melts. Eventually, the soil will completely erode and the fauna will tumble down.
Edmonton-based researcher for the natural resources ministry warns ‘You have the potential for large shifts,’ adding that some areas might be flooded and even lose forests, which can eventually turn into bogs or swamps, and lakes.
This ‘buckling and sinking’ is caused by permafrost degradation; ground that has been frozen for the past two years is thawing.
Bacteria are eating away at the biomass that has been accumulated over thousands of years, producing carbon and methane emissions that contribute to the acceleration of global warming.
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