Logging Boreal Forest Could Detonate Massive ‘Carbon Bomb,’ Says Report

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Published on Thursday, April 10, 2008 by Canadian Press
Logging Boreal Forest Could Detonate Massive ‘Carbon Bomb,’ Says Report
by Steve Rennie
OTTAWA - Canada’s boreal forest is a ticking “carbon bomb” and its continued logging could trigger a massive release of greenhouse gases, says a new report.

A Greenpeace study released Thursday says cutting down trees in the boreal forest is exacerbating climate change by releasing stores of greenhouse gases trapped in soil and vegetation.

It also found that logging makes the forest more susceptible to insect outbreaks and wildfires which, if widespread, could cause a spike in greenhouse-gas emissions - the so-called “carbon bomb.”

And the report says a warmer climate melts permafrost, releasing methane, a greenhouse gas 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

“The idea is that if the current trends continue … what could happen is a sudden and massive release of greenhouse gases from the forest caused by a rapid outbreak of forest or peat fires,” said Greenpeace’s Christy Gerguson.

Canada’s boreal forest stores 186 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, the report says - about 27 times the world’s yearly fossil-fuel emissions.

About 80 per cent of the carbon is stored in the soil as dead organic matter. The rest is stored in the forest’s evergreen trees, moss and peat.

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