Science Matters | October 23, 2009
By David Suzuki with Faisal Moola
In 1992, I attended an event that filled me with hope. Canada and the
rest of the world had just signed a climate change treaty at the United
Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. I remember being optimistic
that the world could come together to fight the greatest threat to our
planet and our own survival. We had done it before in overcoming other
threats, like defeating Nazism in Europe and beating back horrific
diseases like polio that once maimed and killed tens of thousands of
people each year.
When Canada signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change
(UNFCCC) treaty, we had not yet begun to experience the full
consequences of climate change. There were no news reports of starving
polar bears in the Arctic, the mountain pine beetle had not yet turned
B.C.’s forests crimson, and we weren’t facing a rapid increase in
infectious diseases, like Lyme disease, that are exacerbated by warming
temperatures.
The effects of climate change are now affecting people and places all
over the planet, from the most remote tropical rainforest to the urban
parks where many of our kids play. And scientists tell us that some
changes, like melting sea ice in the Arctic, are happening much faster
than any computer model had predicted.
Though the 1992 UNFCCC treaty set no mandatory limits on greenhouse gas
emissions and contained no enforcement provisions (these would come
later in the Kyoto Protocol and, we hope, in a forthcoming climate
treaty that will replace it), it did set an ambitious science-based
goal: to stabilize greenhouse gases in the atmosphere at a level that
will prevent the effects of dangerous climate change.
Scientists say we can only achieve this goal if we radically reduce all
major sources of heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. While much of
the debate and action has focused on curbing emissions from burning
fossil fuels such as oil, coal, and gas, the destruction of our
forests, wetlands, grasslands, and peatlands is responsible for about
one quarter of all other emissions into the atmosphere. That’s higher
than emissions from cars, trucks, boats, and planes together.
In Canada and throughout the world, forests are being rapidly cleared
for agriculture and oil and gas development and are being destructively
mined and logged. When forest soils are disturbed and trees are burned
or cut down for wood and paper products, much of the carbon stored in
their biomass is released back into the atmosphere as heat-trapping
carbon dioxide, although some carbon can remain stored in longer-lived
forest products, like wood used to make furniture or homes.
Thus the destruction of forests and other ecosystems is not only a
driver of extinction of species, such as boreal caribou, but is a
driver of global warming as well.
We need to adopt a carbon stewardship approach to how we use our forests and the goods and services we take from them.
For some scientists, carbon stewardship means setting aside at least
half of all remaining intact forests as protected areas, particularly
carbon-rich forests like old-growth temperate rainforests in B.C. and
the boreal in Canada’s north, where wildlife like caribou feed, breed,
and roam. Protecting intact forests also promotes ecological resiliency
so that species and ecosystems can cope with and adapt to the effects
of climate change.
That doesn't mean that the logging companies should be allowed to trash
the other 50 per cent. Forests that we do manage for wood and paper
production should be logged according to the highest standards of
ecosystem-based management, without clear-cutting, and with adequate
protection for wildlife habitat like caribou, as well as sensitive
areas like wetlands.
In December, the world’s nations will meet at the UN Climate Summit in
Copenhagen to negotiate a new strong and fair climate change agreement
that will continue and strengthen the Kyoto Protocol. Scientists tell
us that to avoid dangerous climate change governments must agree to
deep reductions in greenhouse gases, including carbon emissions from
the destruction of our forests, wetlands, and other ecosystems. We can
achieve this by agreeing to protect our intact forests, taking full
responsibility for emissions from logging and other land-use
activities, and helping developing nations reduce deforestation.
Let’s use our forests in a truly sustainable way that is better for
nature, better for the climate, and ultimately better for our own
health and well-being.
Photos by Just Being Myself, melancholic optimist, Space Ritual via Flickr. Creative Commons licensed.
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