<
https://theconversation.com/ending-native-forest-logging-would-help-australias-climate-goals-much-more-than-planting-trees-229487>
"Australia contains some of the world’s most biologically diverse and
carbon-dense native forests. Eucalypts in wet temperate forests are the tallest
flowering plants in the world and home to an array of unique tree-dwelling
marsupials, rare birds, insects, mosses, fungi and lichen, many of which have
not even been catalogued by scientists. Yet our country remains in the top ten
list globally for tree cover loss, with almost half of the original forested
areas in eastern Australia cleared.
This loss has been devastating for Australia’s native plants and animals and
contributes to global warming through vast amounts of carbon emissions. The
global biodiversity and climate change crises are inextricably linked – we
cannot solve one without the other.
Earth’s ecosystems, such as forests, coastal wetlands and tundra, contain
enormous amounts of carbon. But deforestation and degradation by humans is
likely to send global warming past 1.5°C, even if we achieve net-zero fossil
fuel emissions. Protecting native forests is a critical way to prevent
emissions, which must be achieved in parallel with a rapid transition to clean
energy.
What is being overlooked in current international climate policy under the
Paris Agreement is the crucial role of biodiversity in maintaining healthy
ecosystems and their integrity, which keeps carbon stored in forests, not the
atmosphere. Healthy ecosystems are more stable and resilient, with a lower risk
of trees dying and lower rates of carbon emissions.
The way we currently count carbon stores risk creating incentives to plant new
trees rather than protect existing forests. Yet old-growth forests store vastly
more carbon than young saplings, which will take decades or even centuries to
reach the same size.
On January 1 this year, both Victoria and Western Australia ended native forest
logging in state forests. This is a good start. But the rest of Australia is
still logging native forests. Extensive land clearing continues for agriculture
and urban development, as well as native forest harvesting on private land."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
