Forestry offers powerful climate change solutions

As we celebrated Earth Day on Thursday, options for reducing climate change are the focus of many discussions, with much of the attention on how we can use less fossil fuel.

However, an important part of the discussion should be about our forests, their contribution to climate change mitigation and how a healthy forest industry is an essential element of a national emissions reduction strategy.

Canada’s large and diverse forests mitigate climate change by removing carbon from the atmosphere and converting it into wood. Many wood products lock stored carbon away for decades and can replace materials with a heavier carbon footprint. When harvested sites regrow, this creates an ever-growing stockpile of carbon in forests and in products that we use in our daily lives.

Two questions that have been asked about the relationship between forestry and forest carbon are: 1) Is harvesting causing Canada’s forests to be a source of carbon emissions? And 2) Are wood products a source of carbon emissions? Let’s take them in order. Is harvesting causing Canada’s forests to be a source of carbon emissions?

The federal government assesses the effects of harvesting on forest carbon by reporting separately on the areas of forest management (with harvesting) and areas of natural disturbance. This is done to ensure transparency about the effects of forest management and to meet international commitments for reporting national greenhouse gas emissions.

Forest management is much more than just cutting trees; it is also about protecting habitat, planting trees and promoting natural regeneration to renew harvested forests. Despite harvesting, which happens on just a fraction of the total managed forest, the net result is still about 140 million to 150 million tonnes of carbon dioxide removed from the atmosphere every year for much of the past decade.

Meanwhile, the past decade has seen other areas of managed forest affected by wildfire and before that the mountain pine beetle, with released carbon averaging about 170 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year over the past decade.

Are wood products a source of carbon emissions?

Carbon locked in wood products helps to mitigate climate change. While over time carbon in wood products is released to the atmosphere, this is part of a biogenic cycle where forests regrow and reabsorb the carbon in wood products.

Most of the carbon in wood products is very slowly released, remaining stored as items are repurposed or recycled. Even if they are eventually landfilled, decomposition is slow and much of the carbon in wood products remains stored for many decades.

MOVING FORWARD

Climate change will challenge Canada’s forest industry in the coming decades by increasing natural disturbances and altering environmental conditions. The forest sector must continue to adapt forest management practices, while continuing to reduce carbon emissions throughout the supply chain (for example, mills and transport) to maximize the industry’s contributions to Canada’s carbon reduction targets.

Provincial forestry agencies, the federal government and industry and community partners must work together to adapt forests to climate change, especially through reforestation and other measures to create forests that are more resilient to climate change and will continue to reduce climate change.

Steve Colombo is a consultant on environmental issues related to forests, climate change and forest management. He has more than 35 years’ experience as a research scientist with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources. He has published more than 120 technical and scientific papers and two books.