Forests
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Bioenergy > Environmental issues > Forests
Forests are major storehouses of carbon. As a forest grows it sequesters carbon until the point where it reaches the climax stage of growth.
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Forests and biofuels
- Some researchers have suggested that the clearing of forests to plant biofuel crops may release 2 to 9 times as much carbon as the use of fossil fuels.[1]
- Tropical forests may be converted to crop plantations, such as oil palm, due to increased demand for biofuels.
- This may lead to deforestation or forest degradation.
- Trees, wood, forest debris and other biomass can be utilized for bioenergy.
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Resources/Papers
- Sustainable global energy supply based on lignocellulosic biomass from afforestation of degraded areas (PDF) by Jürgen O. Metzger and Aloys Hüttermann, published by Naturwissenschaften, November 2008. Discusses reasons for which afforestation in conjunction with lignocellulosic biomass production on degraded land would serve as a longterm viable contributor to the global energy demand.
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Events
2008
- 16-17 September 2008, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada: CWF/CANBIO Conference: “Bio-energy: Developing Trends and New Opportunities for a Changing Forest Industry”. Sponsored by Canadian Woodlands Forum (CWF) and the Canadian Bio-Energy Association (CANBIO). (Themes: biomass, forests)
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News
- Biofuel producers warn EU over "unjustifiably complex" sustainability rules, 7 November 2008 by BusinessGreen: "Eight developing countries have written to the EU warning they will complain to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) if it passes proposed legislation designed to improve the environmental sustainability of biofuels by restricting the types of fuels the bloc imports."
- "The EU is considering legislation that is intended to ban the purchase of biofuels from energy crop plantations that are believed to harm the environment and lead to food shortages by displacing land used for food crops and contributing to rainforest deforestation."
- "[E]ight countries – Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Malawi, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Indonesia and Malaysia – have written to the EU to protest against the proposals" in a letter that "claims that the new rules would 'impose unjustifiably complex requirements on producers' and argues that environmental criteria 'relating to land-use change will impinge disproportionately on developing countries'."[2]
- Biofuels standards challenged by new report on Malaysian Palm Oil , 8 October 2008 by Friends of the Earth UK: "Malaysian palm oil is finding its way into British petrol tanks despite concerns about its carbon balance and the rainforest being destroyed to produce it - according to a new report by Friends of the Earth international."
- "The UK Renewable Fuels Agency (RFA) has reported that Malaysian palm oil being used for fuel in the UK meets a 'qualifying environmental standard', but Friends of the Earth's research reveals it is far from green."
- The FOE report finds that Sarawak state in Malaysia "plans to more than double its 2007 levels of oil palm acreage by 2010....at the expense of tropical forests" and that "companies regularly practice open burning on carbon rich peat soils releasing millions of tonnes of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere".[3]
- See the report Malaysian Palm Oil: Green Gold or Green Wash?
- The Climate Tree, a joint initiative of the Tropical Forest Trust, the National Wildlife Federation and the Global Canopy Programme to act now and efficiently for forests.
- Is Biomass Harvesting Sustainable?, late August 2008 (September 2008 issue) by Biomass Magazine: "Sustainability is a buzzword in the biomass industry. But sustainable can mean many things....A collaboration of researchers studied a biomass operation...in Minnesota to look at all the different components of a sustainable biomass harvesting operation."
- "Researchers from Minnesota and Wisconsin zeroed in on one particular system — small trees and undergrowth in the Superior National Forest — to gauge the environmental and economic costs of removing biomass from the forest."[4]
- Download the IATP study, Harvesting Fuel: Cutting Costs and Reducing Forest Fire Hazards Through Biomass Harvest.
- UK 'should end biofuel subsidies', 26 August 2008 by BBC News: The UK "government should stop funding biofuels and use the money to halt the destruction of rainforests and peatland instead, a think tank has said."
- "Policy Exchange said the switch would have a bigger impact on climate change because trees and peatland remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere."
- Download the Policy Exchange report, The Root of the Matter: Carbon Sequestration in Forests and Peatlands (PDF file)
- Forests to fall for food and fuel, 13 July 2008 by BBC News: "Demand for land to grow food, fuel crops and wood is set to outstrip supply, leading to the probable destruction of forests, a report warns."
- "The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) says only half of the extra land needed by 2030 is available without eating into tropical forested areas."
- "Rising demand for food, biofuels and wood for paper, building and industry means that 515 million hectares of extra land will be needed for growing crops and trees by 2030, RRI calculates."[5]
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References
| Forests | edit | |
| Woody biomass | Wood waste | ||
