Don't forget the 'green' in 'greening'

With the continuous reports of strange and unseasonable weather conditions across the country, and a recent greening of the government in Ottawa – including a new Environment Minister and a string of environmental funding announcements – it’s not surprising that the impacts of global climate change are once again at the fore of our national dialogue. By now, the public is aware of the link between climate change and increased atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases, and the mounting push from both scientists and policy makers to develop strategies to mitigate its effects.

The easiest way to address the concern of rising greenhouse emissions, it seems, is to simply reduce the levels of gases released into the atmosphere. This appears to be the focus of our current government, whose latest initiatives are concentrated on developing a new energy strategy based on clean, efficient and renewable energy sources and green technologies. While emission reductions are integral to combating the problem, they’re only part of what should be a multi-faceted approach. Ideally we should look to include programs which seek to offset, as well as reduce, current and future emissions.

Projects have been proposed that would artificially capture and store, with the help of innovative technologies, harmful emissions before they can be released into the atmosphere. Another avenue, with the potential to allow for vast amounts of carbon sequestration, exists – one which uses the natural capture and storage systems of biogeochemical cycling. As one of the most abundant elements on the planet, the ubiquity of carbon has made it an important compound in many biochemical processes. As such, carbon has a number of sinks, or reservoirs, which naturally absorb and store carbon over extended periods of time.

Carbon dioxide, as well as being a notoriously troublesome greenhouse gas, is also vital to the health of plant material, and in a country like ours, where nearly 46 percent of the landmass is covered in forests and woodlands, the ability to sink carbon in plant biomass, like forests, is both potentially advantageous and dangerous for reducing our greenhouse emissions.

I am not suggesting, however, that the key to mitigating the effects of climate change lie in planting millions of hectares of new forest. Although such endeavours have merit, the tremendous upfront investment of time, money, land and energy required make such projects impractical. Rather, I believe a more beneficial pursuit would be to continue to fund and implement new sustainable forest management strategies for existing and ageing tree stands.
Despite their roles as carbon sinks, we must also remember that forests represent potential carbon sources, as fire and decay release stored carbon from trees into the atmosphere. Forests act as carbon reservoirs only so long as they remain healthy and intact. Maintaining the productivity of our forests, and thus their efficiency as carbon sinks, is of great importance to our future carbon management strategies – especially now, since continued climate change has the potential to severely affect the functionality of our forested ecosystems.

The federal government must not overlook the importance of forests in their new environmental initiatives, and should continue their proactive role, in cooperation with the provincial and territorial governments – under whose jurisdiction the majority of the country’s forests fall – to ensure that sustainable practices remain a priority in forest management.

Although I applaud any well-intentioned effort by Ottawa to address environmental issues in this country, I hope the current government will recognize the need to do so with a well-balanced approach. While I agree that Canada needs to lower its greenhouse emissions, and support its development of green technologies and clean energy, I feel strongly that the current focus on emission reduction should not come at the expense of sustainable resource management--especially with respect to our forests.

It’s easy to see the benefits of maintaining our forests for their potential as carbon sinks, but we must remember that there is more to be gained from healthy and productive forests than just clean air – they also serve to protect our watersheds while maintaining regional biodiversity. Above all, we mustn’t forget that with so much of our landmass devoted to forests and woodlands there exists the great potential that our forests – without proper care and consideration – may become a liability in our battle with the greenhouse effect and climate change.