Skogarna och koldioxidfrågan

Debatt i HBL: Erik Wahlström: "Rio-avtalets konsekvenser" 6.6.1992 Jan Heino: "Kolbalansen i skogarna" 10.6.1992 Pekka Kauppi: "Skogarna och koldioxidfrågan" 17.6.199

Letters: The benefits of CCS

SIR – In looking for cost-efficient CCS, please step up and walk to your window, where you may see a tree. The evolution of woody plants has solved the problem of capture (photosynthesis) and storage (formation of durable cells) at minimal cost. After what is called “forest transition”, woody resources of a country cease to shrink and start to expand. Forest transition implies a shift of the landscape from a carbon source to a carbon sink, thus marking the onset of organic, cheap CCS. Alexander Mather of the University of Aberdeen predicted in 1992 that forest transition is the likely future of tropical countries, too. Since then, however, biofuel clearings and other pressures have created new concerns. Organic CCS will again become an issue as climate negotiators reconvene to consider a post-Kyoto treaty in Copenhagen in December this year. Pekka Kauppi Professor of environmental science and policy University of Helsinki Helsink