Tree Huggers

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A call to reduce the carbon costs of forest harvest (www.nature.com)

submitted 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) by Treevan@aussie.zone to c/treehuggers@slrpnk.net

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Forests accumulate and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and protect biodiversity, giving them a defining role in controlling the global average temperature.

Writing in Nature, Peng et al. report the true carbon cost of wood harvests, which have reduced more carbon storage in vegetation and soils than any other practice except agriculture.

Economic modelling of the global carbon cost of harvesting wood from forests shows a much higher annual cost than that estimated by other models, highlighting a major opportunity for reducing emissions by limiting wood harvests.

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[–] poVoq@slrpnk.net 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I think the main point of the article is that the carbon storage in a forest is not mainly in the tree-trunks, but rather in the stuff around them, especially in the soil.

The typical way of harvesting commercial tree plantations is clear out and pretty much destroy all of that, and even if the area is replanted the remaining bio-mass is left to rot, which releases a lot of CO2.

I think the main problem is not logging itself, but the destructive way it is currently done to maximize profits.