[Terrapreta] Tree planting -- a bit more

[lou gold]

Kelpie Wilson over at TruthOut as juxtaposed two recent articles on tree
planting, soils, etc.
They reveal the issues. http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/120307EA.shtml

There's tremendous misunderstanding and I suspect lots is reported without
full context. Here's an example:

    "Forests are a band-aid," said Mike Flannigan, a research scientists at
the Canadian Forest Service. "Eventually, forests die, releasing all that
stored carbon into the atmosphere."

    "Forests are carbon-neutral over the long term," Flannigan told IPS.

So, do they release all stored carbon or not? The answer is 1) at first they
grow and capture carbon quickly; 2) then they start to recycle as decay
replaces some of the early growth binge; 3) then they reach an equilibrium
state in which the future is carbon neutral (growth and decay in equal
amounts) AND there is an enormous amount of carbon (from the past) stored in
large tree boles and in undisturbed soil.
LESSONS: 1) It is far more important to stop deforestation of standing
stable forests than to plant trees; 2) tree planting is important in the
right places and if the intention is to preserve them as diverse forests;
and 3) one region meeting short-term targets (in this case Europe) does not
balance long-term damage taking place in other regions (tropical
rainforests).

Hope this helps with a complicated issue.

lou

-- 
http://lougold.blogspot.com/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/visionshare/sets/
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