Our neighbors to the north are having a bit of a CO2 problem.
From The Vancouver Sun:
Greenhouse gas emissions from B.C. forests on dramatic rise
B.C.’s forests experienced heavy carbon losses between 2003-2012, a dramatic change from the previous decade whey they were absorbing carbon, an analysis by the Sierra Club of B.C. shows.
The province’s forests emitted an estimated 256 million tonnes of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere between 2003 and 2012. In the previous 10-year period, they absorbed 441 million tonnes from the atmosphere, according to a report released this month by the environmental group.
The key factor was the loss of the forests to absorb carbon because of the mountain pine beetle epidemic. The beetle epidemic killed vast tracts of lodgepole pine trees in B.C.’s Interior, peaking in 2005.
Net emissions from B.C.’s forests are estimated by accounting for logging minus the amount of carbon stored in wood products, wild fires, slash-burning of logging waste and the reduced carbon sequestration capacity.
And of course, the agenda comes out:
Sierra Club forest and climate campaigner Jens Wieting said the dramatic change in carbon dioxide emissions should be a wake-up call to the provincial government to make changes to forest management, focusing on preserving carbon sequestration rather than on logging.
and
Wieting said there’s an opportunity to preserve more carbon by reducing clearcut logging and preserving old-growth forests, saying B.C. forest management is making climate change worse.
The Sierra Club said the B.C. Liberal government should implement a five-year, $1-billion plan to restore the health of the province’s forests.
Fortunately, there are some adults in the room:
The Ministry of Forests did not dispute that the province’s forests had turned into a carbon source from a carbon sink.
But in an emailed response, forestry ministry spokesman Greig Bethel said that was a result mainly of the pine beetle epidemic and increased emissions from wildfires. The province’s forest management strategy was not responsible for increased carbon emissions, he said.
In response to the Sierra Club’s call for a $1-billion program, he said the province already has in place forestry health programs, including a program to restore forests hit by wildfire and the pine beetle. Since 2005, $348 million has been spent on the program.
Good news - CO2 is the environmental boogey-man. It is actually the gas of life as without it, we would have no plants anywhere. More CO2 in the atmosphere is better for the environment.
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