The caatinga biome is one of the world's most “resilient” against the climate crisis
Environment — di Camilla Soldati
The Brazilian caatinga biome, a type of dry forest among the most biodiverse in the world, is an extraordinary carbon sink.
The caatinga biome is one of the world's most “resilient” against the climate crisis
The Brazilian caatinga biome, a type of dry forest among the most biodiverse in the world, is an extraordinary carbon sink.
The caatinga biome, in Brazil, is unique in the world. But let us take this step by step. A biome is a terrestrial area characterised
by a particular type of vegetation or climate that is distinct from its surrounding environments. Examples include the rainforest biome or the Mediterranean biome.
What is the caatinga
The caatinga is one of the six biomes found in Brazil and is distinguished by its type of vegetation, classified as a dry forest. The name caatinga itself derives from two words in the traditional Tupi-Guaraní language: caa, meaning "forest", and tinga, meaning "grey" — a fitting description of a type of vegetation that remains dry for most of the year, before giving way to greenery when the dry season ends. Despite the impression it may give of harbouring little life, the caatinga is in fact one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
The caatinga is also Brazil's most "resilient" biome against climate change — and one of the most resilient in the world: it absorbs an extraordinary quantity of CO2 without releasing it back into the atmosphere. It is, in fact, an important carbon dioxide "sink" (the term used for ecosystems that absorb more CO2 than they emit). To give an example, the efficiency rate of the Amazon between CO2 stored and emitted is around 2–11 per cent. That of the caatinga is 23 per cent.
La Caatinga, un área semiárida al noreste de Brasil, es un bioma único.
Así ayudan la FAO, @theGEF y @mmeioambiente a comunidades vulnerables de esta región a revertir la desertificación a través la agroforestería y conservando la biodiversidad.
#MejorMedioAmbiente #COP16Riyadh
Así ayudan la FAO, @theGEF y @mmeioambiente a comunidades vulnerables de esta región a revertir la desertificación a través la agroforestería y conservando la biodiversidad.
#MejorMedioAmbiente #COP16Riyadh
An extraordinary CO2 sink
Indeed, studies conducted over more than a decade by the National Observatory on the caatinga have shown that it has the best CO2 sequestration performance of all Brazilian biomes: for every 100 tonnes of CO2 absorbed, between 45 and 60 tonnes are retained without being re-emitted into the atmosphere.
"To our surprise, the caatinga is the most efficient biome in Brazil and among the most efficient in the world. Plants absorb and release CO2 during the process of photosynthesis, and this is a very positive balance," said Aldrin Perez, of the National Institute for the Semi-Arid Region (Insa), one of the associations responsible for the project. "This type of forest is one of the solutions to the problems associated with climate change, being an exceptional CO2 sink."
The caatinga, however, is one of the most deforested habitats in Brazil. For this reason, it must be protected and restored.