Representing 27% of all forests worldwide, boreal forests are the planet's terrestrial "second lung" after tropical forests. Encircling the North Pole, they span North America, Europe, and Asia, playing a vital role in global carbon sequestration and storage, biodiversity, and supporting societies and economies.
Despite their importance, boreal forests do not receive the same visibility and attention among policymakers and the public as their tropical forest counterparts. A new study published by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), presented today at the United Nations Forum on Forests in New York, highlights the urgent need to increase the understanding of this global "treasure trove" and to safeguard its important contributions.
The comprehensive study on boreal forests and accompanying series of national overviews (for Canada, Finland, Norway, Russian Federation, Sweden, USA) finds that despite the importance of the boreal biome, there are significant gaps in knowledge about its forests, their role in sustainable development, and their future. This can be attributed to fragmented research, based on national, site-specific conditions, and the lack of a harmonized and agreed definition and monitoring framework across the boreal region.
Call for Action
The study highlights the need to place greater focus on boreal forests in global discussions on sustainable development, biodiversity conservation, sustainability indicators and climate change adaptation and mitigation.
A commonly agreed definition of boreal forests would help to delineate the area they occupy as a precondition for a consistent monitoring of the boreal forest biome. This could be achieved through the development of a set of dedicated criteria and indicators for monitoring long-term effects of forest management activities, natural and human-caused landscape disturbance, as well as climate change, including fires and insect infestations.
Such assessment instruments, resulting from the joint efforts of countries with boreal forests, would generate evidence on the state of the biome for improved policymaking for the sustainable management of boreal forests and help raise their overall profile.
The UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry offers a platform and tools to facilitate the exchange of information and cooperation in this regard.
Key Facts
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Land coverage: Boreal forests cover approximately 1.21 billion hectares (9.3% of global land area).
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Carbon storage: These forests contain about 32% of global terrestrial carbon stocks, with boreal soils holding vast amounts of carbon, significantly impacting atmospheric carbon levels.
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Biodiversity hotspot: Boreal forests are an unrecognized hotspot of global biodiversity and a refuge for many species.
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Economic importance: They contribute substantially to sustainable livelihoods, including to rural, remote and Indigenous communities, and economic growth, providing 37% of the world's stock of growing timber. Activities such as berry or mushroom picking, hunting, and recreation/tourism also make important contributions.
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Rising threats: Boreal forests face increasing threats from climate change, including wildfires, pest outbreaks, and thawing permafrost.
Boreal forests are characterized by short, moist, and moderately warm summers and long, cold, and dry winters. Their flora consists mostly of cold-tolerant evergreen conifer trees, such as spruce, larch, pine and fir, with some broadleaf species such as birch, poplar and alder. The world's boreal regions are among the least densely populated on earth.
Boreal forests contain approximately 48% of global primary forests and are vital for the conservation of biodiversity and climate regulation. They play an important role in global carbon sequestration and storage, and therefore, are key to climate change mitigation. In addition to providing significant ecosystem services, for example, the protection of freshwater resources, boreal forests play a substantial role in contributing to the sustainable economic development of countries in the boreal zone, and provide a sustainable supply of wood and energy to world markets.
Boreal forests, like other forest biomes, are important to global goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8, 12, 13 and 15, the six Global Forest Goals and the Targets of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2030.
