- The myth that primary and old growth forests should be
"sustainably" managed is dealt a mortal deathblow. Members and funders
of RAN, FSC and others greenwashing ancient forest logging called upon
to withdraw support in protest
(Seattle, WA) -- Ecological Internet welcomes the emerging science
published today in "Nature" indicating tropical trees in undisturbed
forest are absorbing nearly a fifth of the CO2 released by burning
fossil fuels[1]. This is in addition to the long-term carbon
sequestered within old trees' wood and soils. This is the most recent
of several major scientific studies indicating the need to fully
protect all remaining primary and old growth forests as a keystone
response to global climate, biodiversity and water crises.
"This is huge -- not only do ancient rainforests reliably store
massive amounts of carbon, as we have known for sometime, but they
continue to remove enormous amounts of carbon every day they remain
standing and are non- degraded. The study partially solves the mystery
of where human carbon pollution has been going, and in so doing
supports the need for avoided deforestation payments," said Dr. Glen
Barry, Ecological Internet's President.
It was found that remaining tropical forests remove a massive 4.8
billion tonnes of CO2 emissions from the atmosphere each year. This
includes a previously unknown carbon sink in Africa, which mops up 1.2
billion tonnes of CO2 a year. Over the past 40 years, each hectare of
intact African forest was found to have annually trapped an extra 0.6
tonnes of carbon. This builds upon last year's studies that found
old-growth forests are "carbon sinks" and continually absorb carbon
dioxide, and that their first time logging releases 40 percent of their
carbon[2].
"We are receiving a free subsidy from nature," says Dr. Simon Lewis,
a Royal Society research fellow at the University of Leeds, and the
lead author of the paper. "Tropical forest trees are absorbing about
18% of the CO2 added to the atmosphere each year from burning fossil
fuels, substantially buffering the rate of climate change."
Dr. Lee White, co-author on the study, said "to get an idea of the
value of the sink, the removal of nearly 5 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere by intact tropical forests, based on
realistic prices for a tonne of carbon, should be valued at around £13
billion ($USD 18.7 billlion) per year. This is a compelling argument
for conserving tropical forests."
### MORE ###
The findings critically demolish claims by groups as diverse as the
Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), World Bank, Rainforest Action Network
(RAN), Greenpeace and WWF that "well-managed, responsible and
low-impact" logging in the world's dwindling ancient forests can ever
have environmental benefits. Over the past two years, each has been the
target of Ecological Internet's campaign to end old growth forest
logging, which is "certified" by FSC as being "green".
Late last year RAN agreed to review their long-time support for
first time industrial logging of ancient forests[3]. When Lafcadio
Cortesi, RAN's new rainforest campaigner, was asked to comment upon the
Nature report, he replied it is a "bit of a stretch and certainly
premature to link... the nature paper findings with RAN and the FSC."
He refused to answer the question "how does logging 500 year old
ancient trees protect rainforests and the climate," continuing two
years of RAN stonewalling on the most basic of questions regarding
their support for FSC ancient forest logging.
EI President, Dr. Glen Barry, said "the science has never been
clearer: global ecological sustainability depends critically upon
protecting and restoring old forests. How much longer can RAN and the
world dither? Our demand of RAN remains the same: either use your
membership to get FSC to eliminate their sourcing of certified timbers
from ancient forests, or resign immediately from FSC in protest. Sadly,
our campaign resumes after failure by RAN to keep their earlier
promises."
"We call upon RAN members to resign, and their funders to stop their
support, in protest of America's leading rainforest group supporting --
against a growing body of ecological science -- first time industrial
destruction of primeval forests. EI will be taking further protest
action at a place and time of our choosing."
### ENDS ###
[1] Nature, "Increasing carbon storage in intact African tropical forests", February 19, 2009, Vol 457.
Study press release: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090218135031...
[2] Old-growth forests as global carbon sinks. Nature 455, 213-215 (September 11, 2008).
Green Carbon: The role of natural forests in carbon storage. ANU E Press (July 2008).
[3] "Ancient Forest Victory, as Rainforest Action Network Yields, Commits to Review FSC Support", http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2008/10/release_an...
DISCUSS RELEASE: http://www.rainforestportal.org/issues/2009/02/release_an...
Ecological Internet provides the world's largest and most used climate and environment portals at http://www.climateark.org/ and http://www.ecoearth.info/ . To subscribe visit: http://www.ecoearth.info/shared/subscribe/