World's last great forest (the boreal forest) under threat: new study

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.adelaide.edu.au/news/news35121.html

World's last great forest under threat: new study

Tuesday, 25 August 2009

The world's last remaining "pristine" forest - the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiga">boreal forest (1) across large stretches of Russia, Canada and other northern countries - is under increasing threat, a team of international researchers has found.

The researchers from the University of Adelaide in Australia, http://www.mun.ca/">Memorial University (2) of Newfoundland in Canada and the http://www.nus.edu.sg/">National University of Singapore (3) have called for the urgent preservation of existing boreal forests in order to secure biodiversity and prevent the loss of this major global carbon sink.

The boreal forest comprises about one-third of the world's forested area and one-third of the world's stored carbon, covering a large proportion of Russia, Canada, Alaska and Scandinavia.

To date it has remained largely intact because of the typically sparse human populations in boreal regions. That is now changing says researchers and co-authors http://www.adelaide.edu.au/directory/corey.bradshaw">Associate Professor Corey Bradshaw (4), University of Adelaide, http://www2.swgc.mun.ca/~iwarkent/iwarkent.html">Associate Professor Ian Warkentin (5), Memorial University, and http://www.dbs.nus.edu.sg/lab/cons-lab/sodhi.html">Professor Navjot Sodhi (6), National University of Singapore.

"Much world attention has focused on the loss and degradation of tropical forests over the past three decades, but now the boreal forest is poised to become the next Amazon," says Associate Professor Bradshaw, from the University of Adelaide's http://www.adelaide.edu.au/environment/">Environment Institute (7).

"Historically, fire and insects have driven the natural dynamics of boreal ecosystems," says Associate Professor Warkentin. "But with rising demand for resources, human disturbances caused by logging, mining and urban development have increased in these forests during recent years, with extensive forest loss for some regions and others facing heavy fragmentation and exploitation."

The findings have been published online in http://www.trends.com/tree/default.htm">Trends in Ecology and Evolution (8) in a paper called `http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6VJ1-4X03JDR-1&_user=162644&_coverDate=08%2F11%2F2009&_alid=989589864&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=6081&_sort=r&_docanchor=&view=c&_ct=2&_acct=C000013138&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=162644&md5=5e7c7ab8225f00c2e8ed38efc61a0a09">Urgent preservation of boreal carbon stocks and biodiversity (9)'. The findings include:

• Fire is the main driver of change and increased human activity is leading to more fires. There is also evidence that climate change is increasing the frequency and possibly the extent of fires in the boreal zone.
• Few countries are reporting an overall change in the coverage by boreal forest but the degree of fragmentation is increasing with only about 40% of the total forested area remaining "intact".
• Russian boreal forest is the most degraded and least "intact" and has suffered the greatest decline in the last few decades.
• Countries with boreal forest are protecting less than 10% of their forests from timber exploitation, except for Sweden where the figure is about 20%.

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[Fotoware58]

1. Actually...

the problem is MUCH worse than depicted in this article. Most of those forests are being cut for export, with a significant amount being sent here, to America. Canada routinely clearcuts their vast boreal forests, thinking that clearcut farming rotations will make their practices "sustainable". The energy costs and pollution to transport those milled products here compounds the environmental costs. Boreal forests also take much longer to recover and don't produce as much timber volume as more southerly forests with longer growing seasons.

Sadly, America imports most of their wood because of the political unpalatability of active forest management on our own public lands. The powers that be would much rather let our forests die, rot and burn than to let foresters manage them with eco-forestry. Yes, we have the most scientifically-advanced forestry in the world today but, the courts won't let us use them, siding with "legal monkeywrenching" and conflicting laws, rules and policies. They won't even let the Forest Service cut DEAD trees.

The trend will continue, as other countries cut more and more trees to export.