Addressing the Biophysical Effects of Forests in National Climate Policies: Opportunities in Chile

The case study argues that forests influence climate stability through biophysical processes—albedo, evapotranspiration, surface roughness, and aerosols—beyond the carbon cycle. In Chile, the loss of over 40% of forest cover, particularly the matorral in the central region, has likely contributed to local temperature increases and exacerbated the 'Mega Drought' (2010-2018). The authors propose enhancing Chile's Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), Long-Term Climate Strategy, and REDD+ frameworks by incorporating non-carbon cooling effects as performance indicators and targets. They also suggest expanding the ARClim risk assessment platform to include deforestation-induced warming to better prioritize adaptation measures in agriculture and public health.

• Forests affect climate through four primary non-carbon biophysical processes: albedo (solar energy reflection), evapotranspiration (moisture release for cooling), surface roughness (wind turbulence that lifts heat), and aerosols (particles affecting cloud color and atmospheric chemistry).
• Deforestation has severe scale-dependent impacts: globally, tropical deforestation contributes 50% more to warming than carbon metrics alone suggest; regionally, it disrupts 'precipitationsheds' and rainfall (e.g., Amazon deforestation affecting Bolivia, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Argentina); and locally, it can cause extreme temperatures to rise by more than 7.6°C.
• Chile has lost over 40% of its forest cover over several centuries, with a 12% decrease in tree cover since 2000. The central region's sclerophyllous forest and shrubland (matorral) has lost more than 80% of its original extent.
• Local deforestation in Chile's central areas has likely worsened climate impacts; converting matorral to crops or grassland resulted in an average surface temperature increase of 1.4°C during the dry season, and up to 4°C in some central areas.
• Chile's NDC targets could be improved by prioritizing native species over exotic pine plantations, as the latter have lower albedo and provide limited climate benefits. The NDC could also include direct targets to reduce deforestation-induced biophysical warming.
• The ARClim climate risk assessment platform, which has a spatial resolution of 5 kilometers, could be expanded to include deforestation's effect on temperature to help prioritize the creation of protected areas and sustainable forest management.
• Chile's REDD+ strategy (ENCCRV) and the +Bosques project (investing US$63 million in 25,000 ha) currently rely on carbon-based indicators for mitigation; incorporating biophysical cooling as a performance indicator could attract more results-based finance.

APA

Haller, V., & Seymour, F. (n.d.). Addressing the Biophysical Effects of Forests in National Climate Policies: Opportunities in Chile. World Resources Institute. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-11/addressing-biophysical-effects-of-forests-national-climate-policies-chile.pdf

Chicago

Haller, Vincent, and Frances Seymour. Addressing the Biophysical Effects of Forests in National Climate Policies: Opportunities in Chile. World Resources Institute, n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-11/addressing-biophysical-effects-of-forests-national-climate-policies-chile.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Haller |first1=Vincent |last2=Seymour |first2=Frances |title=Addressing the Biophysical Effects of Forests in National Climate Policies: Opportunities in Chile |publisher=World Resources Institute |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-11/addressing-biophysical-effects-of-forests-national-climate-policies-chile.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hallerndaddressing, author = {Haller, Vincent and Seymour, Frances}, title = {{Addressing the Biophysical Effects of Forests in National Climate Policies: Opportunities in Chile}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2023-11/addressing-biophysical-effects-of-forests-national-climate-policies-chile.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }