Speaker
Description
Old-growth and primary forests are essential Nature-based Solutions for climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, ecosystem resilience, and disaster risk reduction. Although afforestation and reforestation are widely promoted as carbon offset measures, protecting existing mature and undisturbed forests should be recognized as an equally important, and often more reliable, climate action. These forests store large amounts of carbon in biomass, deadwood, soils, and complex ecosystem structures developed over decades or centuries. If degraded or destroyed, their carbon stocks cannot be replaced within short policy or climate neutrality timeframes. Newly planted forests may need decades to reach comparable carbon storage levels, and their benefits depend on species selection, site conditions, management, and long-term protection. Beyond carbon sequestration, old-growth and primary forests provide key ecosystem services for climate adaptation. They regulate water cycles, reduce erosion, moderate local climate extremes, support biodiversity, and increase resilience to floods, droughts, pests, and wildfires. From a science-policy perspective, forest-based climate measures should move beyond simplified carbon accounting. Avoiding the loss of carbon-rich and biodiverse forests provides immediate mitigation benefits, while afforestation often delivers delayed and uncertain outcomes. Therefore, policies should prioritize the strict protection of remaining old-growth and primary forests, restoration of degraded forests, and carefully planned afforestation.
The key message is that old-growth and primary forests cannot be easily replaced by tree planting initiatives. Their protection should be central to Nature-based Solutions for climate adaptation, mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and long-term ecosystem stability.