World's forests and seas 'struggling to absorb carbon', scientists warn

It's feared crucial natural processes which see our lands and oceans absorb carbon dioxide and help regulate the world's climate could be breaking down.

The world's forests, lands and seas are struggling to absorb enough carbon to aid in the fight against climate change, leading scientists have warned.

It's feared natural processes which see our soils, trees and plants become "carbon sinks" by absorbing the greenhouse gas could now be breaking down. Worryingly, last year saw a complete collapse in the amount of carbon dioxide sucked into land - with the world's forests, plants and soils absorbing almost no carbon at all.

And at sea, the faster-than-expected melting of Greenland's glaciers and the Arctic ice sheet is slowing ocean currents and its ability to absorb carbon. Researchers said this "unprecedented weakening" of the world's carbon sinks was not part of current climate modelling - and could send global warming into uncharted territory.

Johan Rockström, director of the respected Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research - who gave a high-profile lecture in Edinburgh last year - said: "We're seeing cracks in the resilience of the Earth's systems. We're seeing massive cracks on land – terrestrial ecosystems are losing their carbon store and carbon uptake capacity.

"But the oceans are also showing signs of instability. Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end."

Without nature's help to absorb massive amounts of carbon through the world's forests, grasslands, peat bogs and oceans, global net zero efforts would likely be doomed. Tree-planting and restoring peatlands are a crucial part of Scotland's own climate strategy

Rockström added: "This stressed planet has been silently helping us and allowing us to shove our debt under the carpet thanks to biodiversity. We are lulled into a comfort zone – we cannot really see the crisis."

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It's hoped the failure of land to absorb carbon last year could be temporary, with 2023 the hottest year on record and bringing unprecedented levels of wildfire and drought. But scientists remain deeply alarmed at the stats.

Prof Andrew Watson of Exeter University said: "Overall, models agreed that both the land sink and the ocean sink are going to decrease in the future as a result of climate change. But there's a question of how quickly that will happen. The models tend to show this happening rather slowly over the next 100 years or so.

"This might happen a lot quicker. Climate scientists [are] worried about climate change not because of the things that are in the models but the knowledge that the models are missing certain things."

He added: "It's been assumed that natural sinks are always going to be with us. The truth is, we don’t really understand them... What happens if the natural sinks stop working because the climate is changing?"

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