The forests of the world are in crisis: how the fires and degradation transform them into ‘Carbon Bombs’

An apparent paradox is raising itself, together with the smoke of the bonfires, from Canadian forests: those are among the most important allies of the planet in the fight against the climate, they are becoming significant sources of carbon dioxide. Not only for fires that, even these days, devastate them, but for a deeper and more worrying change

Canada, with its 361 million hectares of forests, an invaluable heritage that should be a bulwark against global warming, has become the symbol of this reversal of course. In the last twenty years, 225 million hectares of Canadian forests, subject to insufficient or poorly managed human action, have gone from an average annual absorption of 30.5 million tons of CO2 to average emissions of 131.2 million tons. A data, almost quadrupled, that shouts attention.

As we write, Canada is facing a new wave of devastating fires. As of June 3, 2025, there are over 200 active forest fires, more than one hundred of which are classified as “out of control” according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center. According to Agency AP, thousands of people, over 25,000 in three provinces (Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan), were evacuated. The smoke, dense and threatening, does not stop on the borders, reaching and worsening the quality of the air in different United States, from Dakota del Nord to Florida, as reported by Aornow.gov.

The situation is so serious that Manitoba has declared the state of emergency, and emergency teams and planes from other provinces and the United States, including Alaska, Oregon and Arizona, were sent to fight the flames. “The next four to seven days will be absolutely crucial until we find the way for a change in weather conditions and, ultimately, a pouring rain throughout the North,” said Saskatchewan premier, Scott Moe. This current crisis scenario is the bitter confirmation of a far wider basic problem.

When the allies become part of the problem: the forests under stress

The alarm was launched by Ethiforspin-off of theUniversity of Padua Specialized in environmental consultancy, which analyzed the causes of this worrying phenomenon. Fires, forest degradation, extreme events, insect epidemics and theIncrease in global temperatures They are the main culprits.

The forests, which should absorb carbon dioxide and fix it in the biomass, are releasing CO2 to a greater extent than that seized. In only 2023, the fires in Canada destroyed 15 million hectares of forest surface, 4% of the total, a large area Seven times Friuli-Venezia Giulia.

Added to this is the climatic stress that promotes the spread of insect epidemics, such as that of the scolitide choleotterus of the pine which in British Columbia, between 2000 and 2020, has damaged over 20 million hectares.

And the situation is not isolated. Even in Europe there are worrying signs. Finland, for example, has seen the absorption of CO2 by its forests constantly decrease, with a carbon balance that has become negative in 2021. Here the main causes are the increase in timber withdrawals and the increase in emissions from the soils due to the rapid decomposition of the litter due to the increase in temperatures. Similar situations occurred in Estonia And Germanywhere drought and insect attacks led to a significant decline in the forest carbon stock. Even in tropical countries, deforestation and degradation caused by human action transform forests into net carbon emitters.

As he warned Mauro Masieroscientific director of Etifor: “In perspective, in the absence of measures capable of producing inversions of course, things do not seem to be intended to improve. The changes in progress are extremely fast, often more than the human ability to take note of them and react”. A study by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forests of the United States of 2023, cited by Masiero, provides that the US forests could become a significant source of emissions since 2070.

The Italian situation

In Italy, the data of the National Inventory Document 2025 of ISPRA (the Higher Institute for Environmental Protection and Research) indicate that forests absorb 14% of the country’s total CO2 emissions, net of losses. A fact that, at first glance, seems positive, being more than doubled compared to previous estimates. This leap is explained by the revision of the Ispra data based on new tools such as the National forest paper and the National Forestry Information System.

“We have already lost the train to correctly manage the role of forests in climatic policies when we had to focus on the temporary role of mitigation of the forests while we changed our energy model,” he underlines Davide Pettennella of etiifor. With the average temperatures climbed by 1.48 °, the risk is that forests, from precious opportunities, become part of the problem. “This is why a totally passive rewilding is very dangerous and the restoration of nature does not identify itself with abandonment but with forest management”.

Active management for resilient forests

The solution, therefore, is not to leave the forests to themselves, but to invest in an active and conscious management. Etifor, with his initiative Wownatureintervenes on 159 green areas, demonstrating how it is possible to encourage the diversity, complexity and resilience of the woods.

Management interventions must be targeted and specific for each case. May include support for spontaneous renewal through assisted migration, the increase in biodiversity with Enrichment Plantingand the diffusion of indigenous species resistant to drought, fires, insects and wind crashes. It is also crucial to ensure a diversity of landscape scale systems, combining forest areas with wetlands or natural meadows. This approach not only manages better climatic risks and promotes biodiversity, but also supports local economies through long -lasting forest products, such as those used in construction, which can store carbon outside the forests.

To implement these strategies, not only technical skills are needed, but also effective governance tools and structures. It is essential to promote collaboration mechanisms between public and private and encourage aggregative forms between the owners to ensure effective management strategies and choices, aimed at guaranteeing multifunctional management of the woods. Only in this way will our forests return to being the precious allies that the planet desperately awaits.