Common Dreams / Published on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 by Agence France Presse
Climate change over the past two decades has caused Sweden's tree line to move north at a faster rate than at any time in the past 7,000 years, Swedish researchers have said.
 Autumn-coloured trees are pictured in the Swedish county of Jaemtland. Climate change over the past two decades has caused Sweden's tree line to move north at a faster rate than at any time in the past 7,000 years, Swedish researchers have said.(AFP/File/Sven Nackstrand) |
The tree line represents a limit in mountainous, northern and southern latitudes beyond which trees do not grow.
"Recordings began in 1915 but the trend has intensified in the past 15 to 20 years," Kullman said.
Sweden's climate in the past 20 years was as mild as it had been some 7,000 years ago, he added.
While some of the change could be explained by natural phenomena such as the reduction in global volcanic activity -- allowing more sunlight to warm the Earth -- the trend was clearly provoked for the most part by man-made factors.
"We can say that 75 percent of the change is due to the emergence of greenhouse gases," Kullman said.
As the climate has become milder other plants and animals have ventured further north from their traditional habitat.
"The number of plants and animals in Swedish forests has grown 100 percent in the last 50 years," Kullman said.
