MEDIA RELEASE
Friday 13 December 2024
Sound science needed to assess carbon impacts of timber harvesting
Forestry Australia has welcomed a new study published in Australian Forestry peer-reviewed journal by the former chief research scientist at the CSIRO, Dr John Raison.
The paper, titled A review of the impacts of sustainable harvesting, non-harvest management and wildfire on net carbon emissions from Australian native forests, investigates the science behind claims that timber harvesting increases greenhouse gas emissions.
Dr Bill Jackson, Acting President of Forestry Australia said Australian and international studies highlight the potential to lower carbon emissions by producing and using wood products from sustainably managed forests, particularly as substitutes for high-emission building materials.
“This paper demonstrates the complexity in accounting for the impacts of changes to forest management on carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions from Australian native forests,” Dr Jackson said.
“Assessing carbon impacts of forest management needs to consider the full life cycle of forest management, wood production, processing, use and disposal or reuse.
“The outcome depends heavily on assumptions about initial conditions, harvest intensity, timber recovery, lifetime of forest products, the impacts of wildfire and the time frame of the analysis.
The paper points out that it is important to get these assumptions right, otherwise policy makers can be ill-informed about the effects of their decisions on carbon emissions.
Dr Jackson said policy makers also need to consider the short, and long-term, impacts on carbon stocks of decisions to reduce or cease native forest harvesting. This includes the impacts of wildfire and reduced professional forest and fire management capacity in agencies responsible for timber production.
“This paper has implications for development of new emission reduction methods under Australia’s ACCU scheme.
“Appropriate, landscape scale analysis using scientifically sound sampling and surveys of carbon stocks and dynamics are required to inform these methods.
“The best opportunities are likely to lie in approaches that improve forest management to better integrate conservation, restoration and sustainable production and use of forest products,” Dr Jackson said.
ENDS
The paper can be viewed here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049158.2024.2433815
aa
ABOUT FORESTRY AUSTRALIA
Forestry Australia is an independent not-for-profit professional association of more than 1,100 forest scientists, managers and growers who work in native forests, plantations and provision of environmental services. Its members are committed to the principles of sustainable forest management and applying these principles to generate environmental, social and economic outcomes in all types of forests and land tenures.
ABOUT DR BILL JACKSON
Bill Jackson is an adjunct Professor with the Tropical Forest and People Research Centre of the University of the Sunshine Coast and an independent consultant with over 40 years’ experience in forest conservation and management, protected area management and community development.
Bill was the chief author for the Australia State of Environment Report 2016, and he held the positions of Chief Executive of Parks Victoria and Director of National Parks from late 2010 until mid-2015. Prior to his appointment to Parks Victoria, he was Deputy Director General of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). During his 13 years with the IUCN, he helped establish the organisation’s overall strategy and worked on a wide range of conservation issues in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and Latin America. Earlier in his career he worked on community forestry in Nepal and forest and fire management in New South Wales. His PhD focused on community forestry in Nepal.
He is currently working on Global Environment Facility projects in Papua New Guinea and Bhutan.
aa
ENDS
For further information: Becher Townshend 0418 370 661