Buying and selling forest carbon as a commodity is dangerous if it trumps other environmental and social uses – new report
Retrieved on:
måndag, juni 3, 2024
Globally, forests remove nearly all of the two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide that is currently being removed from the atmosphere every year.
Key Points:
- Globally, forests remove nearly all of the two billion tonnes of carbon dioxide that is currently being removed from the atmosphere every year.
- International financiers estimate that by 2050, Africa could be selling US$1.5 trillion in carbon credits per year, mainly from its forests.
- They have found that buying and selling forest carbon as a commodity is dangerous if it is prioritised over the other environmental and social uses of forests.
What is a carbon sink?
- All living things contain carbon, and are considered carbon sinks when they absorb more carbon from the atmosphere than they release.
- Many ecosystems serve as carbon sinks, but forests have a large biomass (wood and twigs and leaves on the forest floor).
Why is it a problem for a forest to be seen only as a carbon sink?
- In Africa alone, an estimated 245 million people live within five kilometres of a forest, and many of these people rely directly on forests for their livelihoods.
- * Read more: ‘Sacred forests’ in West Africa capture carbon and keep soil healthy * * Our research found that forests are increasingly being managed as carbon sinks, and the carbon they store treated as a commodity that can be internationally traded.
- Carbon markets allow businesses and governments to earn credits by paying for forests that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which is cheaper than reducing their own emissions.
- This is especially threatening for people who do not have secure rights to the forests and land they depend on.
- Research has found that forest-dependent communities are rarely given power to address their own priorities in forest carbon sink schemes.