Forest and climate – potentials and side-effects of future afforestation

Reforestation is a widely discussed measure to combat the increase of atmospheric CO₂ concentrations. Earlier studies inferred from the effects of past land use changes to those of future reforestation. The global model simulations presented here show however that the potential of reforestation to sequester CO₂ in a warm, CO₂-rich world may be larger than anticipated. Adaptation to climate change continues to be necessary, but climate extremes may be dampened by reforestation.