Canada’s boreal forest top-rated carbon warehouse
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Vancouver Sun
North America’s boreal forest contains nearly twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests, says a new report by Canadian and American researchers.
The boreal forest stores more carbon than any land-based ecosystem on the planet, according to a new report that says the Amazon is no match for Canada’s boggy bush.
North America’s boreal forest contains nearly twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests, says the report by Canadian and American researchers. And Canada, home to the largest blocks of forest left on Earth, has by far, the lion’s share of the carbon, it says, and a responsibility to ensure it stays locked in trees, soils and peatlands.
“Canada is unique in the world with its carbon stores and its intact ecosystems,” says Jeff Wells, of the Boreal Songbird Initiative, and lead author of the report by Canadian and U.S. groups pushing for inclusion of the boreal in upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen and for the forest’s protection.
It’s been endorsed by an international panel of leading scientists who write in a forward that it is “imperative that the world’s policy-makers and public now make a concerted effort to ensure that both the boreal forest and its vast stores of carbon remain intact.”
The report says Canada’ boreal region sweeping from Newfoundland across to the Yukon holds a staggering 208 billion tonnes of carbon, or the equivalent of 26 years of the world’s carbon emissions that spew into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.
“Future climate change protocols must be better suited to motivate stewardship of the massive quantity of carbon stored in forest and peatland ecosystems,” the report says.
It is “scientifically indefensible” the boreal forest has been left out of international climate agreements to date, given its importance in the global carbon budget, Wells said in an interview.
Federal officials declined to comment on the specifics in the report which is to be released Thursday. But Werner Kurz, senior scientist with Natural Resource Canada, says the idea of including the forest in international climate agreements is “being revisited” by the federal government.
The report, entitled “The Carbon the World Forgot,” says the “boreal biome is the world’s largest and most important forest carbon storehouse, holding almost twice as much carbon per unit area as tropical forests.”
The carbon has been “vastly underestimated” in the past, it says, in part because most of it is not in trees, shrubs and plants but below ground in often metres-deep soils and peats, some thousands of years old.
The report says there is a total of 208 billion tonnes of carbon in Canada’ s boreal, a figure that includes 71 billion tonnes in forest ecosystems and 137 billion tonnes in peatland ecosystems.
Federal, provincial and aboriginal leaders are moving to protect the boreal — the premiers of Ontario and Quebec have both promised to set aside half their boreal forest. But the Songbird and boreal conservation campaign, funded largely by the Pew Charitable Trusts and backed by 1,500 scientists, says much more needs to be protected.
The report notes that almost 90 per cent of Canada’s soil carbon — much of it around James Bay and in the Northwest Territories — is outside existing protected areas.
But the ecosystems are still largely intact, which means Canada can still safeguard the carbon and forest ecosystems that the report says will play a “crucial role in the Earth’s climate change future.”
“There’s an incredible opportunity here,” says Wells, noting that taking steps to ensure carbon stays in place also would protect songbirds and creatures such as caribou, bears and moose. Large tracts of intact forest are also seen as “refuge” that could help ecosystems and creatures adapt and move if temperatures climb as predicted in coming decades, due to global warming.
The Harper government could do much to improve its environmental image by pushing for protection of the boreal carbon at international climate meetings slated for Copenhagen next month.
The report recommends two “simple changes” to climate protocols — one to include peatland carbon and the other to make it mandatory to account for carbon emissions created when forests are disturbed by logging, mining, road-building or hydroelectric projects.
Canada and other countries decided against inclusion of the forest carbon in the Kyoto Protocol because they didn’t want to be held accountable for emissions from wild fires and pests, such as the mountain pine beetle, that can destroy large tracts of forest and send huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
“These rules are now being revisited,” Kurz said by e-mail from Beijing where he is attending meetings.
Kurz is leading the development of a national forest carbon accounting system for Canada, and says the federal government is involved in ongoing international negotiations to develop “rules that will create incentives for climate mitigation through sustainable forest management without obligations to account for emissions from natural disturbances.”
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canada+boreal+forest+rated+carbo…
The boreal forest stores more carbon than any land-based ecosystem on the planet, according to a new report that says the Amazon is no match for Canada’s boggy bush.
North America’s boreal forest contains nearly twice as much carbon per hectare as tropical forests, says the report by Canadian and American researchers. And Canada, home to the largest blocks of forest left on Earth, has by far, the lion’s share of the carbon, it says, and a responsibility to ensure it stays locked in trees, soils and peatlands.
“Canada is unique in the world with its carbon stores and its intact ecosystems,” says Jeff Wells, of the Boreal Songbird Initiative, and lead author of the report by Canadian and U.S. groups pushing for inclusion of the boreal in upcoming climate talks in Copenhagen and for the forest’s protection.
It’s been endorsed by an international panel of leading scientists who write in a forward that it is “imperative that the world’s policy-makers and public now make a concerted effort to ensure that both the boreal forest and its vast stores of carbon remain intact.”
The report says Canada’ boreal region sweeping from Newfoundland across to the Yukon holds a staggering 208 billion tonnes of carbon, or the equivalent of 26 years of the world’s carbon emissions that spew into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels.
“Future climate change protocols must be better suited to motivate stewardship of the massive quantity of carbon stored in forest and peatland ecosystems,” the report says.
It is “scientifically indefensible” the boreal forest has been left out of international climate agreements to date, given its importance in the global carbon budget, Wells said in an interview.
Federal officials declined to comment on the specifics in the report which is to be released Thursday. But Werner Kurz, senior scientist with Natural Resource Canada, says the idea of including the forest in international climate agreements is “being revisited” by the federal government.
The report, entitled “The Carbon the World Forgot,” says the “boreal biome is the world’s largest and most important forest carbon storehouse, holding almost twice as much carbon per unit area as tropical forests.”
The carbon has been “vastly underestimated” in the past, it says, in part because most of it is not in trees, shrubs and plants but below ground in often metres-deep soils and peats, some thousands of years old.
The report says there is a total of 208 billion tonnes of carbon in Canada’ s boreal, a figure that includes 71 billion tonnes in forest ecosystems and 137 billion tonnes in peatland ecosystems.
Federal, provincial and aboriginal leaders are moving to protect the boreal — the premiers of Ontario and Quebec have both promised to set aside half their boreal forest. But the Songbird and boreal conservation campaign, funded largely by the Pew Charitable Trusts and backed by 1,500 scientists, says much more needs to be protected.
The report notes that almost 90 per cent of Canada’s soil carbon — much of it around James Bay and in the Northwest Territories — is outside existing protected areas.
But the ecosystems are still largely intact, which means Canada can still safeguard the carbon and forest ecosystems that the report says will play a “crucial role in the Earth’s climate change future.”
“There’s an incredible opportunity here,” says Wells, noting that taking steps to ensure carbon stays in place also would protect songbirds and creatures such as caribou, bears and moose. Large tracts of intact forest are also seen as “refuge” that could help ecosystems and creatures adapt and move if temperatures climb as predicted in coming decades, due to global warming.
The Harper government could do much to improve its environmental image by pushing for protection of the boreal carbon at international climate meetings slated for Copenhagen next month.
The report recommends two “simple changes” to climate protocols — one to include peatland carbon and the other to make it mandatory to account for carbon emissions created when forests are disturbed by logging, mining, road-building or hydroelectric projects.
Canada and other countries decided against inclusion of the forest carbon in the Kyoto Protocol because they didn’t want to be held accountable for emissions from wild fires and pests, such as the mountain pine beetle, that can destroy large tracts of forest and send huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere.
“These rules are now being revisited,” Kurz said by e-mail from Beijing where he is attending meetings.
Kurz is leading the development of a national forest carbon accounting system for Canada, and says the federal government is involved in ongoing international negotiations to develop “rules that will create incentives for climate mitigation through sustainable forest management without obligations to account for emissions from natural disturbances.”
© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service
http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Canada+boreal+forest+rated+carbo…
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