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About The Pacific Forest Trust California Main Office |
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Forest Carbon
in
the United States:
Opportunities and Options for Private Lands A report from the Pacific Forest Trust by: Laurie
A. Wayburn Jerry F.
Franklin John C.
Gordon Clark S.
Binkley David J.
Mladenoff Norman
L. Christensen, Jr. |
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Our nation’s forests offer a potent way to reduce U.S. emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most prevalent greenhouse gas. That’s because forests are the most effective ecosystems on earth at removing CO2 from the atmosphere and storing it for the long term. When forests accumulate and hold carbon they act as carbon reservoirs, or "sinks," and help lower emissions overall. When they are disturbed by logging or lost through conversion, they release carbon and add to emissions overall. Forests cover a third of the United States (747 million acres) and nearly 60 percent of these forests are privately owned. The U.S. has a great opportunity to reduce its net emissions of carbon dioxide through actions on private forests, in three ways: • Slowing loss or "conversion" of forests to nonforest uses like development. • Speeding reforestation on former forestland such as marginal agricultural land. • Increasing average forest ages by letting more trees grow older. |
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| Whether our
private forests accumulate carbon, release carbon, or are lost
entirely as carbon sinks will be a major determinant of how quickly
and cost-effectively the U.S. can reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Amounts of forest carbon sequestration are falling. Since 1990,
U.S. forests have stored less carbon each year because of conversion
and unsustainable harvest.
This report describes management approaches on private forests that will lead to lasting net increases in carbon stocks. It also identifies causes of forest carbon loss, proposes ways to develop a domestic forest carbon market, and outlines the principles of forest carbon accounting. PFT published this report in the fall of 2000, prior to the Sixth Conference of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol in the Hague, Netherlands, where the role of forests in mitigating global warming was a central topic.
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Conservation
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