Exploding the Carbon Myth

Some recent reports have erroneously claimed that 'locking up' our native forests will lead to substantial greenhouse gas benefits. . However these studies have not included many important elements such as the very important role played by wood products.

Report author Dr Kelly (refer earlier news item on this site) said that it is critical to understand the 'whole of life' cycle implications of production forests. This means looking at the way forests grow, the way they are harvested, what the wood is used for, what happens to the residues from logging operations and how the wood products are dealt with at the end of their service life.

The report found that "production or working forests have significantly higher greenhouse benefit than conservative forests when considering the full lifecycle of timber products as well as standing carbon in trees" said Dr Kelly.