It’s difficult to understate the significance of this paper given the recent efforts of the E.U. to bring in regulations that limit exports and imports of forest products associated with “deforestation” and “forest degradation” while the Canadian forest industry and the federal government contend that our forestry practices are fully sustainable and express concern that such regulations would create trade barriers for Canadian wood exports. The results and conclusions from this recent “Carbon Paper” and an earlier “Bird Paper” by MG Betts & colleagues, both based on data for forests in Maritime Canada, lend a lot of credence to recent protests in Nova Scotia over forest degradation associated with harvesting of remaining patches of Old Forest in landscapes on Crown lands. Likewise, the 2024 “Carbon Paper” does not support the contention of Forest NS that growing secondary forests lock carbon away more effectively than unharvested forests in Protected Areas.
“New Brunswick forests are losing, not storing, carbon. But conservation could have benefits for the climate and biodiversity”
So reads a News Release citing a paper published on Oct 30, 2024 in Global Change Biology by M.G. Betts et al.
M.G. Betts et al., 2024. “Congruent Long-Term Declines in Carbon and Biodiversity Are a Signature of Forest Degradation”Global Change Biology Oct 30, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.17541
The Full Text (graphics inserted): Continue reading