BIOPLAN POSTING 2001-6-1

              Ken Creighton <ken.creighton@undp.org>
Sent by: owner-bioplan@undp.org
06/26/01 06:53 PM

Dear Bioplan Readers,
The short text below, reprinted from an  OP/ED piece by Canada's Minister of the Environment,  provides a succinct, low key and elequent argument for including sinks in the strategy to implement the Kyoto Protocol (including, perhaps, the Clean Development Mechanism) and acknowledges the linkage with the Convention on Biological Diversity.
To those of us who live in the "lower 48"  of the United States, such practically stated common sense and realistically tempered optimism are like a breath of cool, fresh (Canadian) air among the clouds of hot gasses swirling around the climate talks.
Ken Creighton
Carbon-sink doubts don't hold water ( From Toronto Globe and Mail)
                      DAVID ANDERSON
                      Friday, June 15, 2001
  Some recent media reports have suggested that Canada's position on carbon sinks
  in international climate-change negotiations is "based on questionable science." I
  would like to correct the record.
  Forest and agriculture sinks can absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and make an effective contribution to fighting climate change. This is  broadly recognized by the scientific community.
The concept of carbon sinks is quite simple. Trees and other plants "breathe in" and
store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere as they grow. A single tree can absorb
many tonnes of carbon dioxide during its lifetime and foresters can manage forests
to absorb thousands of tonnes.
Similarly, farmers have successfully shown that agricultural soils can be managed to store a portion of the carbon dioxide that crop plants absorb from the atmosphere during the growing season. This happens when farmers increase their crop yields and change their tillage methods to reduce soil disturbance.
Well-managed forests and farms have other significant environmental benefits. They
can contribute to conserving biodiversity, protecting our streams and rivers, promoting clean air and increasing the quality of agricultural soils.
 Unfortunately, some of the world's forests and farmlands are not well managed from
 a carbon perspective. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
 (IPCC), destructive forestry and agricultural practices globally release about 20 per
cent of all human-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmentalists have been sounding the alarm about forest destruction for years.
As one way of addressing the problem, prominent groups, such as the Nature
Conservancy, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and the Environmental Defence
Fund, have been pushing governments to recognize that a wider inclusion of carbon
sinks in the Kyoto protocol can help protect the world's forests.
In Canada's view, an important first step toward a long-term climate-change
solution would be for all governments to agree on the Kyoto protocol provisions
that recognize the value of carbon sinks.
Canada is proposing a fair and comprehensive way of counting carbon sinks. We
are seeking credit when our stewardship of forests and farmland succeeds in taking
carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. But we are also prepared to take a debit
when our practices result in carbon dioxide being returned to the atmosphere. This
balanced accounting approach is based on sound science and supported by IPCC
eports.
Canada's managed forests and farmlands are modest carbon sinks that will only be
a small part (an estimated 15 per cent) of the effort required to meet our Kyoto
target. We will still need to significantly reduce sources of greenhouse gas emissions,
such as burning fossil fuels.
That's why the government of Canada committed $1.1-billion to combating climate
change in 2000 alone. A five-year Climate Change Action Plan lays the foundation
for a long-term response to climate change that includes both carbon sinks and
emissions reductions. The action plan will reduce emissions in all sectors of our
economy and is expected to take us one-third of the way to our Kyoto target. We
are developing additional initiatives to take us the rest of the way.
As part of our long-term plan, Canada's approach to carbon sinks offers an
opportunity to reap a double dividend -- fighting climate change by removing
carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while achieving other environmental benefits.
 David Anderson is the MP for Victoria and Minister of the Environment.

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