07/10/01 -- Carbon Sinks Little Help to Climate, Lacks Forest Conservation Focus

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FOREST CONSERVATION NEWS TODAY

Carbon Sinks Little Help to Climate, Lacks Forest Conservation Focus

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http://www.climateark.org/ -- Climate Ark: Climate Change Portal

07/10/01

OVERVIEW & COMMENTARY by Forests.org

A new scientific report from Britain's Royal Society concludes that

using trees and vegetation to absorb carbon dioxide will do little to

tackle global warming. The amount of carbon these "sinks" can store

is far less than the quantities emitted by burning fossil fuels. The

report highlights the considerable uncertainty in scientific

understanding of the causes, magnitude and permanence of terrestrial

carbon sinks. Indeed, in the future carbon sinks are likely to

become a source of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. And current

measurement techniques are not sufficiently accurate to permit

reliable monitoring of sinks. The emphasis upon carbon sinks - and

industrial forest plantations in particular - is hindering the

development of policy adequate to address the looming climate crisis.

The Royal Society rightly concludes, as virtually all recent

scientific studies have, that reducing emissions is the only strategy

sufficient to effectively address climate change. An effective

policy response to climate change must focus tightly upon energy

conservation and efficiency, and replacing fossil fuels with

renewable energy sources.

Insofar as attention is given to carbon sinks to address climate

change, the emphasis should be solely upon long-term carbon

sequestration within natural standing forests. Relatively permanent

carbon storage is likely to be best achieved through preservation and

restoration of large and strictly protected old growth forest

ecosystems, and reestablishing benignly managed and widespread

natural standing forests within and adjacent to human communities.

Reestablishing forest ecosystems as the context for human societies

will yield many additional ecological and social benefits (water,

soil, biodiversity, wildlife, local weather, aesthetics, recreation

and spirituality). Acceptance by the global community of an

ambitious and aggressive forest preservation, conservation and

restoration program as a major pillar of international climate policy

would represent substantial progress towards long-term global

ecological sustainability. Without such policy, it is difficult to

envision how our air, land and water will persist.

g.b.

Here is the full report from Britain's Royal Society:

"The role of land carbon sinks in mitigating global climate change"

(you will need to paste together the URL),

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/templates/statements/StatementDetails.cfm?s

tatementid=150

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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:

ITEM #1

Title: Carbon sinks won't solve global warming - report

Date: July 9, 2001

Story by Patricia Reaney

LONDON - Forests and farmlands cannot be relied on to soak up

environmentally damaging greenhouse gases, and cuts in emissions are

the only long-term way to reduce global warming, scientists said on

today.

A new report by Britain's Royal Society said too little is known

about how much farmlands and forests, so-called carbon sinks, can

absorb carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas, from the

atmosphere.

Carbon sinks will be a major issue in Bonn next week when

environmentalists and policy-makers resume international climate

talks, which have been jeopardised by the withdrawal of the United

States from the Kyoto agreement on global warming.

In its report, the independent body of top scientists said better

methods are needed to verify the impact of carbon sinks on global

warming. Reducing the amount of CO2 from burning fossil fuels should

be the main way to reduce global warming.

"These carbon sinks are of rather limited size and also will only

work for a relatively short duration, a few decades. That means they

can't make a major contribution to reducing carbon emissions and

solving the global warming problem," said Professor John Shepherd, an

author of the report.

SHORT TERM SOLUTION

Carbon sinks and emissions trading, essentially a market for buying

and selling the right to pollute, were the main stumbling blocks at

the failed United Nations conference on climate change in The Hague

last year.

The United States, Japan, Canada and Australia wanted more emphasis

on carbon sinks in achieving the CO2 emission cuts set in the 1997

Kyoto protocol on global warming. The pact commits developed nations

to cutting emissions of CO2 by an average of just over five percent

from 1990 levels by 2012.

Officials gathering in Bonn on July 16 for two weeks will try to get

the talks back on track, despite the withdrawal of the United States

earlier this year.

Shepherd, the director of Britain's Tyndall Centre for Climate

Research, said carbon sinks were diverting the talks from the main

issue which is cutting emissions.

According to the report, carbon sinks and soil absorb about 40

percent of CO2 emissions and could soak up as much as 45 percent.

But it added that the maximum that could be absorbed would only be

equivalent to a quarter of that needed by 2050 to prevent major rises

in global temperature.

"Our view is that the argument is being diverted into what is really

a rather unproductive area and people should get back to talking

about carbon emission reductions at source by use of renewable

(fuels) and whatever else they think is necessary," said Shepherd.

The scientists also warned that in the future carbon sinks could

become a source of CO2. They could release greenhouse gases, such as

methane.

"The primary benefit of land carbon sinks is that they can be

effective immediately and provide a financial incentive for the

preservation and sustainable use of forests and agriculture land,"

the report said.

But the long-term solution must be cuts in CO2 emissions through

energy saving and replacing fossil fuels with renewable and

nuclear energy.

ITEM #2

Title: Carbon sinks 'little help to climate'

Forests can absorb limited amounts of carbon dioxide

Date: July 8, 2001

Byline: Alex Kirby, environment correspondent

Scientists say relying on trees and vegetation to absorb carbon

dioxide (CO2) will do little to tackle global warming.

They say the amount of carbon these "sinks" can store is far less

than the quantities emitted by burning fossil fuels.

Some countries want to use sinks extensively to meet their

commitments under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. But the

scientists say there is really no alternative to actual emission

cuts.

In a report published by the UK's science academy, the Royal Society,

they say sinks cannot be a long-term substitute for emissions cuts.

They say governments meeting on 19 July in the German city of Bonn to

negotiate the protocol's detailed working should not rely too heavily

on forests and farmlands to soak up CO2.

Rather the report suggests countries should focus on restructuring

the generation and use of energy, and on technological innovations

such as improved fuel efficiency and technology transfer to the

developing world.

Ultimate solution

The chairman of the working group that prepared the report is

Professor David Read.

He said: "These measures may be socially and politically more painful

to implement than land carbon sinks.

"But they must provide the ultimate solution to the problem of

reducing the amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere."

Professor Read said: "We do not fully understand the processes that

control how much CO2 is absorbed by vegetation and soils acting as

sinks.

"And we need more reliable methods of quantifying and verifying their

contribution towards targets set by the protocol.

"They may help to reduce greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere

during the short term.

"But the amounts of CO2 that can be stored are small compared with

emissions from the burning of fossil fuels."

Land-based vegetation and soils currently absorb about 40% of global

CO2 emissions from human activities.

The report recommends that the capacity of these sinks should be

increased. It warns that changes in farming and forestry, like the

widespread use of nitrogen-based fertilisers, can be problematic.

While they are intended to increase the amount of CO2 absorbed by

sinks, it says, they may actually increase climate change by

releasing other greenhouse gases, like methane and nitrous oxide.

'Bit of a sideshow'

The report says the maximum contribution from such changes, and from

slowing deforestation, is modest.

It estimates it at a quarter of the emissions cuts needed by 2050 to

avoid large increases in global average temperatures.

Professor John Shepherd, a member of the working party, told BBC News

Online: "Sinks are really a bit of a sideshow to the main event.

"The size of the potential sinks is quite modest, and they'd all be

used up in a few decades.

"And they're not very stable. If you chop down the trees you release

the carbon, and if you convert the land to wetland you release

methane.

Carbon emitters

"Global warming itself may turn them from sinks to sources of carbon.

"Rising temperatures will make the bacteria more active, and they'll

break down the carbon faster."

Talks last November on finalising the protocol broke down, partly

over disagreements on sinks.

Japan is leading calls in Bonn for sinks to be widely exploited. It

wants to meet almost 60% of its cuts in this way.

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