- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2190
One of the most visible ecological responses to global climate change is the increased forest density and spread of boreal forests, or taiga. These are forests in the northernmost parts of the world, places like Russia, Sweden, and Iceland. Taiga have a lot of pines, spruce and birches.
The taiga is the world’s largest land-based geographical region, forming a massive, green belt across northern North America, Europe, and Asia, above the 50 degrees latitude North. Boreal forests contain 25 per cent of the world’s wetlands and store more carbon in their soils and peatlands than tropical forests, making them essential for mitigating climate change. The taiga is expanding northward, colonising Arctic tundra areas that were previously too cold for forest growth. This ‘Arctic greening’ is due to longer growing seasons and increased CO2 stimulating plant growth through increased nutrients.
The Arctic is warming nearly four times faster than the global average. Longer growing seasons and milder winters allow trees to survive further north. The melting of permafrost, which contains twice as much carbon as the atmosphere, increases climate change. The taiga is dominated by evergreen conifers (pine, spruce, fir) and some deciduous trees (birch, larch). This region contains vast areas of wetlands, lakes, and peat deposits acting as a massive carbon sink. It is home to animals with thick fur (moose, wolves, lynx, caribou) and numerous migratory bird species.
Boreal regions are experiencing larger and more frequent fires, resulting in deeper-burning peat fires releasing massive carbon pulses. Tree growth insulates soil in winter. Conifer needles are adapted to retain water and shed snow. These form dark canopies that trap heat. When forests expand less sunlight is reflected and more solar energy is absorbed ensuring regional warming intensifies.
The 2023 Canada wildfire season converted boreal forests from carbon sinks to carbon emission. Melting permafrost releases carbon stored in the frozen soils for thousands of years and methane is emitted from the waterlogged ground. The result is land subsidence-formed thermokarsts (gigantic sinkholes) and altered rivers, wetlands, and landscapes. In the long term, the tundra ecosystems are shrinking dramatically, disrupting indigenous livelihoods based around reindeer herding and caribou migration.
There’s a short term benefit for animals that live in the taiga. Moose and wolves have more country to feed and roam in, and some birds have more choice of breeding zones. However these changes impact indigenous cultural relationships with the tundra. Environmental changes affect caribou migration routes and reindeer grazing areas, impacting traditional hunting, trapping patterns, and disrupting traditional land use.
Indigenous planning in response to expanding boreal forests and Arctic climate change is increasingly land-based and sovereignty-focused: governance, culture, and long-term survival planning. Many First Nations, Inuit, and Sámi governments are mapping traditional territories using oral history and mapping software to identify culturally critical areas such as caribou calving grounds, berry sites, and sacred places.
The Sámi reindeer herders are negotiating forestry restrictions to preserve migration corridors. Other groups are adjusting seasonal hunting calendars based on observed changes. With changing forest boundaries and altered migration routes communities are monitoring caribou herds using GPS and traditional tracking. This adaptive management is rooted in lived observation.
Indigenous groups have created Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas (IPCAs) to set their own forestry and wildfire management standards. They maintain traditional ecological knowledge, recent research, and climate modelling. Indigenous people are adapting to a global problem not of their own making.
The northern regions that hold the expanding taiga are a long way from Australian climate and experience, but the consequences of carbon emissions from changes in the north feed into the increased fires and floods here. The Albanese government needs to stop putting the needs of fossil fuel corporations ahead of the interests of working people both here and worldwide.
