carbon sinks or sinking climate
by Ricardo Carrere, World Rainforest
Movement
Carbon sinks is a new and confusing
issue to many people. Carbon dioxide is in
the air, and carbon is stored in nearly all
objects around us, but we cannot see it.
Nevertheless, at climate talks negotiators
and scientists have re-invented carbon as a
new and invisible commodity, to be traded
through the establishment of carbon
projects such as plantations. An increasing
number of these projects are being
implemented in different countries despite
the Kyoto Protocol not being in force yet.
Unless something is done about it, we will
be facing scores of plantation projects in
the South aimed at “sequestering” carbon
from the atmosphere.
Negotiators at the Kyoto Protocol have
created something called the Clean
Development Mechanism (CDM). This mechanism
allows for tree plantations to act as
so-called “carbon sinks” which allegedly
absorb CO2 emissions, and store carbon in
the wood biomass, while simultaneously
releasing oxygen. Unfortunately the
mechanism in question has little to do with
clean development. Its worst aspect is the
promotion of large-scale tree plantations,
and the explicit inclusion of plantations
of genetically engineered trees.
An example is the Forests Absorbing
Carbon Dioxide (FACE) foundation; an
initiative created by a consortium of Dutch
electricity utilities.The aim of FACE is to
plant trees in Uganda and in the Ecuadorian
Andes in order to absorb the CO2 which they
emit in the Netherlands. It may sound like
an improbable idea, but some 50 000
hectares of trees have already been planted
in these two countries. Moreover, in their
glossy brochures, the project is presented
as a great success: indigenous communities
are happily planting pine trees; they are
reforesting their degraded environment and
have even been certified by the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC).
However, research carried out on these
plantations in Ecuador, showed little in
common with the brochures. This was not a
degraded environment but a “paramo”
ecosystem, consisting of grasslands 3000
meters above sea level, which had never
been a forest. One of the plantations was a
total disaster. The alien pine trees from
Mexico were very weak and yellow in colour.
Growth was extremely slow, and animals had
eaten most of the trees’ main shoots.
Besides this, local people were unhappy
with the whole project.
To make matters worse, half of the
plantation had been burnt, resulting in the
release of CO2 back into the atmosphere.
This is not an uncommon event for tree
plantations, which are highly prone to
fires. More importantly, it highlights how
volatile this kind of carbon storage is,
and the unreliability of the system.
Monoculture tree plantations appropriate
large areas of land and in the process are
often a direct and indirect cause of
deforestation. They deplete water resources
and destroy biodiversity. What’s more, case
studies show that local communities become
impoverished when plantations replace the
natural resources they depend on for their
livelihoods.
It is thus obvious that large-scale tree
plantations are a bad idea. In spite of
this, climate negotiators are promoting
them as a “solution” to climate change.
Perversely, countries that are already
implementing CDM projects are usually
portrayed as the “good” guys in climate
negotiations, such as the Netherlands,
Spain, and Norway. The fact that the Forest
Stewardship Council is certifying
plantations has only enhanced the status of
CDM-related plantations as a ‘sustainable’
solution.
Regardless of the facts, governments in
the South are continuing to make agreements
with their polluting Northern counterparts.
Recently, the Uruguayan and Spanish
governments agreed to plant 30 000 hectares
of eucalyptus per year to absorb Spanish
companies’ emissions. In total some 150 000
hectares of “carbon sinks” are planned in
Uruguay, just for emissions from Spanish
companies.
Communities and NGOs throughout the
South, from Ecuador and Uruguay to Brazil,
Indonesia, Thailand and South Africa are
campaigning against monoculture ‘carbon
sink’ plantations. The idea of carbon sinks
is unrealistic and the pretence that tree
plantations may in any way be a solution is
being challenged. More realistic
alternatives to climate change have been
proposed and playing roulette with an
invisible dice is not among them.
more information
World Rainforest Movement
Friends of the Earth
Uruguay
CDM Watch
Sinkswatch
