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WORLDWIDE
FOREST/BIODIVERSITY CAMPAIGN NEWS
ACTION
ALERT! Ancient Old-Growth Forests Make the Best Carbon Sinks
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Forest Networking a Project of Forests.org
http://forests.org/ -- Forest Conservation
Portal
http://forests.org/web/ -- Discuss Forest
Conservation
10/31/00
OVERVIEW
& COMMENTARY
The
coming climate change meeting at the Hague, from November 13-24,
is the
most important event in efforts to curb global warming since
Kyoto,
where the Climate Change Treaty was negotiated. Rules
regarding
how to implement the Treaty, including emissions trading
between
polluters and owners of forestlands, will be developed and
adopted
by the parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate
Change
(UNFCCC), the highest international climate body. Protection
of
old-growth forests is one of the most important and least
appreciated
methods to store and remove carbon dioxide.
Yet, the
emissions
trading rules may create incentives to clear old-growth
forests
for replacement with fast-growing tree plantations. New
carbon
trading mechanisms, if poorly designed, will lead to the
release
of huge amounts of carbon from old-growth forests and their
soils. The carbon sequestration abilities of
commercial plantations
are
hypothetical and have not been conclusively demonstrated in the
long-term. The Hague negotiations must ensure that
protection of old
growth
forest ecosystems be pursued as a priority carbon
sequestration
strategy, that any final Kyoto agreement be free of
incentives
to pursue plantation forestry in ancient forest stands,
and
that carbon sinks not be allowed to offset government commitments
to
reduce source emissions. Below are two
actions to take to
advocate
for these measures-by emailing the UNFCCC based on a new
action
alert by Forests.org < on the net at
http://forests.org/emailaction/oldcarbon_oct_00.htm
>, and calling or
writing
the White House Climate Change Task Force.
If
interested in Climate Change policy, please get in the habit of
referring
to the Climate Ark at http://www.climateark.org/ -- the
premier
Climate Change Portal constructed by Forests.org, Inc.
g.b.
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ITEM #1
Title: Ancient Old-Growth Forests Make the Best
Carbon Sinks
Source: By Forests.org, Inc.
Date: October 31, 2000
Important
new scientific studies, including a recent SCIENCE article,
highlight
the importance of old-growth forest ecosystems as a
mechanism
to address climate change, and provide a powerful new
argument
for protecting ancient forests. New studies indicate that
old-growth
continues to remove carbon even when fully mature, and
that
old and wild forests are better than plantations at dependably
removing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Huge amounts of carbon
are
sequestered for long periods in old-growth ecosystems-both in
trees
and perhaps more importantly in soils. Soils in undisturbed
tropical
rain forests and temperate woodlands contain enormous
amounts
of carbon derived from fallen leaves, twigs and buried roots
that
can bind to soil particles and remain in place for 1,000 years
or
more. When such forests are cut, the trees' roots decay and soil
is
disrupted, releasing the carbon dioxide. It would take centuries
for
newly planted trees to build up such an underground carbon
reservoir.
Yet,
the United States, Canada, Russia and other countries have been
pressing
in ongoing Kyoto negotiations occurring under the auspices
of the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
to
achieve as much as half of their greenhouse gas reductions not by
reducing
carbon dioxide releases at the source or maintaining
existing
old-growth carbon sinks, but by using "sinks" like planted
forests
to remove carbon dioxide. There is emerging scientific
consensus
that pursuit of plantation forestry as carbon sinks may in
fact
lead to greater carbon release--particularly if planting occurs
on
formerly old-growth covered landscapes. The extent of any net
carbon
sequestration, if any it all, is difficult if not impossible
to
accurately measure. It will be sadly inappropriate to reduce
targets
for emission reductions on the expectation that forests
planted
as carbon sinks will prove adequate to address looming
climate
change, while failing to pursue policy to maintain the
current
and growing stores of carbon being sequestered in existing
ancient
forests and their soils.
Please
take a moment to use the email form below to contact the
UNFCCC
to request that they facilitate greater attention being given
to
old-growth preservation as a means to address global climate
change.
Demand that protection of old growth ecosystems be pursued as
one
priority carbon sequestration strategy, that any final climate
agreement
be free of incentives to pursue plantation forestry where
ancient
forests stand, and that carbon sinks not be allowed to offset
government
commitments to reduce source emissions.
-----------------------------
Please
send an email to the UNFCCC Secretariat.
You can do so
automatically
at http://forests.org/emailaction/oldcarbon_oct_00.htm
or use the
following contact information and sample letter:
The
Secretariat
United
National Framework Convention on Climate Change
P.O.
Box 260124 D-53153
Bonn
Germany
Email:
secretariat@unfccc.int
Fax:
(49-228) 815-1999
Dear
UNFCCC Secretariat,
Significant
new scientific findings are reemphasizing the importance
of
maintaining ancient forest ecosystems as a mechanism to address
climate
change. Old-growth forests continue to
remove carbon,
sequestering
it for centuries in its soils, even when fully mature.
Old and
wild forests are better than plantations at dependably
removing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Success of the
international
effort to address climate change will depend to a large
extent
upon how well you integrate protection of ancient forest
ecosystems
into your climate change policy-making.
This will require
that
protection of old growth forest ecosystems be pursued as a
priority
carbon sequestration strategy, that any final Kyoto
agreement
be free of incentives to pursue plantation forestry in
ancient
forest stands, and that carbon sinks not be allowed to offset
government
commitments to reduce source emissions.
At this globally
critical
juncture, we depend upon the UNFCCC to facilitate greater
attention
being given to old-growth preservation as a means to
address
global climate change.
Additional
information that formed the basis of this Action Alert,
including
the recent Science article, can be found at:
http://forests.org/recent/2000/plnewfor.htm
ITEM #2
Title: Reminder: Forests and Climate - Call In
Tomorrow, November 1
Source: American Lands Climate and Forests Program
Date: October 31, 2000
By: Aaron Rappaport
The
current U.S. proposal to use trees to soak up atmospheric CO2
under
the Kyoto Protocol casts a blind eye to possible ecosystem
harm. The proposal is written so that if
industrial tree plantations
are
faster CO2 - absorbers than diverse, naturally regenerated
forests
then their owners will be able earn more money by selling
extra
"emissions reduction credits" to polluters. The Administration
should
instead pursue rules for climate, forests, and rivers by
focusing
emissions reduction efforts on reducing fossil fuel use and
by
protecting and restoring native forests.
The
meeting in The Hague, from November 13-24, will be the most
important
event for efforts to curb global warming since the '97
meeting
in Kyoto, where the climate change Treaty was hammered out.
At this
summit, rules on how to implement many aspects of the Treaty,
including
emissions trading between domestic polluters and the owners
of
forestlands will be worked out and adopted by the parties to the
U.N.
Framework Convention on Climate Change, the highest
international
climate body.
The
rules are important: here in the U.S. they will create incentives
and
disincentives for the management of 500 million acres of
forestland,
20% of our nation's land area. They
also pertain to
whether
or not dam projects all over the world will go forward. The
news is
need not be bad. Well-written rules
could create financial
incentives
for the protection and restoration of old growth not just
in
America, but also in, for instance, Russia, which contains the
world's
largest intact forest.
There
is still time to influence the Climate summit's outcome for the
better. November 1, please call David Gardiner, the
Chair of the
White
House Global Change Task Force, at 202/395-2310 and tell him
that:
1) The Kyoto Treaty must NOT encourage
environmentally destructive
tree
plantations.
2) The Treaty should, instead, protect and
restore old growth
forests.
3) Business as usual forestry should absolutely
not be credited as
an
emissions reduction.
David
Gardiner's complete contact information is: David Gardiner,
Chairman,
White House Climate Change Task Force, 734 Jackson Place
NW,
Washington, DC 20503, Fax: 202/ 395-2311.
For
more information, please see
http://www.americanlands.org/forestweb/global.htm or contact:
-
Darcy
Davis, American Lands NW Climate and Forests Organizer, at
darcydavis@americanlands.org
or call 503/978-0132
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