Forest Dieback

Forest dieback which is also called Waldsterben is the process by which the woody trees of a forest starts to deteriorate due to various reasons like climate change, pest attack, diseases, etc. This is an episodic event that begins from periphery and proceeds inwards in many cases.

The forest dieback phenomenon can convert forests from being a net carbon sink to net carbon source. The dead trees cause rapid loss of carbon back to the atmosphere. For example: damages to the forest systems of Canada converted the boreal and temperate forests into carbon sources.