Bapon (SHM) Fakhruddin, PhD

In the 19th century, scientists discovered that plant leaves could survive temperatures of up to 50° Celsius, but beyond this threshold, they perished. Fast forward to 2021, a study of 147 tropical plant species found that the average temperature beyond which photosynthesis failed was 46.7°. This is the heartbeat of our planet, the rhythm of life itself, faltering under the weight of our actions. We also did a study of environmental heat stress among young working women https://lnkd.in/grTPFijZ
Let’s stick with the forest this time!

Consider this: in the upper canopies of Earth’s tropical forests, roughly 1 in every 10,000 leaves experiences temperatures at least once annually that may be too high for photosynthesis. This may seem insignificant, but let me assure you, it is not. A photosynthetic breakdown could harm entire forests if climate change is not halted. A rise of about 4 degrees above current average temperatures in tropical forests could potentially cause wide swaths of leaves to die en masse.

In particular, the Amazon may be most vulnerable to this reckoning. More trees are dying there now than there were 10 years ago or 20 years ago. Temperatures are hotter in the Amazon than in Africa. What was once a lush, vibrant rainforest risks transforming into savanna and shrubland.

But there is hope. As ecologist Joshua Fisher stated, “This is a glimpse into a potential tipping point…We can now see this insight…and because we can see that, it means we can act.”

We must act. For our children and our children’s children. For the countless species that call these forests home. For the very survival of our planet as we know it.

Green Climate Fund is instrumental to Amazon and its communities. GCF has unleashed the full range of its financial instruments – grants, concessional debt, equity, guarantees, and results-based payments – across the Amazon in a variety of settings and activities to ensure the conservation of some of the world’s highest-value forests, sustainable management of timber and non-timber forest resources, water resources and restoration of degraded ecosystems. Let us not stand idle while our world wilts under the heat. Let us rise to this challenge and usher in a new era of global cooperation and commitment to our planet’s health.

Let us ensure that our tropical forests continue to thrive, for they are not just the lungs of our world; they are its beating heart.