Wald in der globalen Klimapolitik: Stand heute und Perspektiven

Forest in global climate change policy: state of today and perspectives Forests play an essential role in both strategies of global climate policy: mitigation and adaptation. Forest is the only CO2 reservoir that can be directly influenced by humans: if new forest area is created or the productivity of forest is promoted, it stores additional CO2 and thus becomes a sink. In contrast, when forest is degraded or transformed, significant amounts of CO2 are released into the atmosphere, and the forest becomes a carbon source. So adaptation measures in the forest always contribute to the mitigation strategy, and mitigation measures – properly planned and executed – contribute to the adaptation strategy. The article describes the evolution of international climate policy since its inception and the role of forests and trees in this political process. The article focuses on current instruments of international climate policy for the promotion of forest programmes in industrialised and developing countries (REDD+). It concludes that forests are so significant in terms of their metabolism, carbon content and extent that it is almost impossible to correct the trend of increasing CO2 levels in the atmosphere without fully considering forests and their sustainable management.