Wilderness Society produces Forest posters for rally

The Wilderness Society has produced posters with a forest theme to promote the climate rally that will be held in Perth and around the country on June 13.

TWS is also promoting the climate rallies on their website. See the link here.

Protecting forests is an important component of any strategy for achieving a safe climate. (That is why this issue is explicitly taken up the June 13 climate rally.)

From the Wilderness Society Website:
Natural forests are an important part of the global carbon cycle. They are buffers that soak up excess carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and store it in the biomass of trees and in the soil. Forests are an essential natural mechanism for stabilizing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide in the short and long term.

One hectare of mature, tall, wet forest can store the equivalent of 5,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is about the same as the annual carbon dioxide emissions from 1,300 cars. Even less productive dry forests and woodlands store significant amounts of carbon.

Most of the carbon in a natural forest is stored in the woody biomass of big old trees, dead wood on the forest floor, and in the soil. It is easy to forget about the carbon below ground: in the tree roots and associated fungi, other micro-organisms and decomposed plant material. These represent significant stocks of carbon that are continually replenished through natural ecosystem processes.

Forests contain about three to four times more carbon than is now in the atmosphere. About half the world’s forests have been cleared for agriculture and human settlement. Much of what is left is commercially logged for timber products; especially woodchip for pulpbased products.

Forests that are commercially logged store about 30 per cent to 40 per cent less carbon than unlogged forests. If we were to halt further deforestation and allow the world’s forests that have been logged to naturally regrow, the amount of carbon taken up and stored in these ecosystems would make a significant contribution to solving the global warming problem. Plantation timber can be grown on land that has already been cleared and used to meet the demand for pulp and related wood-fibre products.

If global warming really is the mother of all environmental problems, then perhaps the time has come to bring to an end the clearing and logging of natural forests. This will make a significant and cost-effective contribution to solving the global warming problem...
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