Climate change is driving widespread forest death and creating shorter, younger trees

Emma Newburger
Published Thu, May 28 20202:00 PM EDTUpdated Thu, May 28 20202:27 PM EDT


In a new report published in Science magazine, researchers warn that climate change is accelerating the death of trees, stunting their growth and making forests across the world younger and shorter.

Forests now not only have less capacity to store carbon dioxide released by burning fossil fuels but they are also unable to host certain species that normally reside there.

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Eighty percent of the world’s land-based species live in forests, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Widespread tree mortality and deforestation has disrupted the habitats of now critically endangered animals like the Sumatran tiger and the orangutan.

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