A new study analysing the carbon budget of global forests over the past 30 years has revealed critical insights into carbon storage and sinks, with Australian levels emerging as a significant negative outlier.
Dr Yude Pan, from the USDA Forest Service’s Northern Research Station in the United States, led the findings, which were published in Nature.
Dr Heather Keith, from Griffith University’s Climate Action Beacon, was the only Australian author on the global study of forest carbon levels and contributed national data for Australia and interpretation in the global context.
“While our findings highlighted that the total global forest sink is being maintained over decades and removing from the atmosphere nearly half of fossil fuel emissions, we found a troubling trend of deforestation and forest degradation that are causing emissions. The sink is vulnerable if these activities continue, combined with climate-induced disturbances such as drought, insect outbreaks and wildfire,” Dr Keith said.
Australia is emerging as a significant negative outlier as forest areas and carbon stocks have declined. In the 1990s and 2000s, Australia’s deforestation and forest degradation were major sources of carbon emissions. By 2010, legislative changes slightly mitigated this, but the damage continues.”
Dr Heather Keith, from Griffith University’s Climate Action Beacon
In Australia, extensive deforestation for agriculture has been a major driver of carbon emissions. While legislative measures have recently slowed land clearing, deforestation and degradation remain substantial issues.
Additionally, Dr Keith argues that harvesting native, high-carbon-density forests and replacing them with lower-carbon-density regrowth forests further exacerbated carbon loss. Dr Keith said droughts and wildfires in the 2000s and 2010s also contributed to increased emissions.
The study authors also stressed the urgency of implementing effective land management policies for climate mitigation: “Protecting carbon stocks in forests and all ecosystems and reducing emissions from fossil fuels are essential steps in combating the climate crisis,” Dr Keith said.
“These findings underscore the vital role of forests in moderating climate change and the need for continued efforts to restore and protect these crucial ecosystems.”
- The study ‘The enduring world forest carbon sink’ has been published in Nature.