The ancient subarctic forests at risk from climate change and war
Photo by John Schade.
The ancient subarctic forests at risk from climate change and war
The boreal ecosystem that covers swaths of Russia and North America is nearing a dangerous tipping point
In summer 2019, the Cambridge physicist Gareth Rees flew into Yakutsk to meet a team of Russian scientists. The far eastern Siberian port is known as the coldest city on Earth, but that year it was simmering under a heatwave. Together the researchers drove deep into the region’s sprawling forests on a road paved by gulag prisoners.
The British and Russian scientists were on a mission to study how the boreal forests of the subarctic region are transforming with climate change. Together they measured 2,000 trees, sweating under the heavy clothes protecting them from crowds of insects.
Financial Times
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