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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[–] LibertyLizard@slrpnk.net 1 points 2 years ago

While earlier thinking did agree with this line of reasoning, my understanding based on other research I’ve read is that healthy, old forests sequester a lot of carbon, but that this ability is highly damaged by logging.

It’s also not necessarily true that carbon stored in lumber is safer or will stay there longer than carbon stored in forests. Many trees can live for hundreds or thousands of years—how many wood products last that long?

The reality is that this is a very complex issue, and it may depend on the forests in question as well as how the wood is used. I wish the article was accessible because I’m sure many of these issues are discussed in it.