In every country, on every continent, climate change is unfolding differently. In Australia, heatwaves and bushfires are reshaping our landscapes. And in South Korea, I just learned about millions of ancient pine trees under attack from an invisible but deadly enemy - pine wilt disease driven by the rising temperatures.
But while climate impacts vary across the world, one thing remains constant: Nature is taking the biggest hit. And we must remember: we are not separate from Nature. We are part of it. Our survival depends on it.
Walking through pine forests near the UNESCO World Heritage fort of Suwon this week, I noticed something striking. Many trees were dying, snapped in half, their broken limbs scattered across the forest floor. But others, marked with green tape, stood strong. The difference? The green-taped trees had been vaccinated with a nematocide, protecting them from pine wilt disease.
Caused by a microscopic nematode (Bursaphelenchus xylophilus), pine wilt disease spreads through beetles and blocks water transport in the trees, killing them within months. Warmer winters and longer growing seasons for the beetles are accelerating the spread of this disease across South Korea and other Northeast Asian countries. Almost one-third of Japan’s forests are infected. And once this occurs, the trees rapidly become brittle and weak, making them vulnerable to wind, snow, and storms. The snapped trees around me weren’t just victims of weather - they were casualties of a changing climate pushing Nature to its limits.
On a positive note, the contrast between the injected trees and the fallen ones revealed that Nature isn’t entirely helpless in the face of climate change. We can take action, we can help ecosystems survive. The green-taped trees showed that intervention and climate adaptation can have an impact. By injecting the trees with nematocides, foresters have given them a chance against a disease that would otherwise wipe them out. This same lesson applies everywhere: active conservation can help mitigate climate change destruction - whether it’s replanting mangroves, or preventing bushfires through cultural burning etc. But it’s important to also remember that prevention is better than cure. Emissions reductions will always be the best solution to the climate crisis.
We Are Nature - And We Need It to Survive
Across the world, despite all our technology and innovation, humans are completely dependent on the natural world. The air we breathe, the water we drink, the food we eat - all flow from the ecosystems around us. Although it’s our natural capital, we are treating Nature as a commodity, something to be exploited rather than protected and invested in.
Forests collapsing from heat stress, oceans acidifying from carbon pollution, and coral reefs dying from rising temperatures are not just environmental issues. They are human survival issues. If the trees can’t withstand the changing climate, how will we?
South Korea’s pine forests show what happens when climate change, disease, and neglect collide. But I did see a glimmer of hope - trees still standing because Koreans had chosen to take responsibility and look after them. If we take that lesson seriously, we can choose to protect our planet, and ourselves, before it’s too late.
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