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Forest fires burn in Riau Province, Sumatra, Indonesia, releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gas. Rampant deforestation has made Indonesia the world's third largest climate polluter.
Enlarge imageTropical forests trap carbon beneath the soil and in trees. Like a sponge, they soak up carbon dioxide gas that is released when people burn fossil fuels for energy.
We need vast tracts of forest to 'soak up' greenhouse gases, combat climate change and safeguard the planet. But, instead, we are doing the opposite. We are destroying forests.
Forest destruction accounts for around 20% of global greenhouse gas emissions every year. That's more emissions than from the entire world's cars, trucks, trains, ships and planes in 2004.
In Indonesia, peatland forests are wiped out by logging, draining, then burning to make way for palm oil plantations. These peatlands (sometimes 12 metres deep) store huge amounts of carbon. When they are cleared and burned, it's like setting off a carbon bomb, releasing nearly two billion tonnes of dangerous carbon dioxide every year.
This photo story shows how palm oil plantations in Indonesia add to climate change:
Thanks to forest and peatland destruction, Indonesia is the world's third largest climate polluter, behind the US and China. A massive 85% of Indonesia's emissions come from forest destruction and peatland conversion.
In Papua New Guinea, an estimated 83% of commercially accessible forests will be cleared or degraded by 2021 if current rates of logging continue (1). Papua New Guinea's remaining forests store almost twice the emissions released from all the world's fossil-fuel power stations in 2004. Logging these forests would release these emissions and contribute vast amounts of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.
What we need to do
To stop dangerous climate change, logging and degradation of the Paradise Forests must stop. Greenpeace is aiming for zero deforestation in the world’s tropical forests by 2015.
What the powerholders should do
External link
CSIRO: Confirmed - Deforestation plays critical climate change role
(1) Shearman et al, The State of the Forests of Papua New Guinea, University of Papua New Guinea (2008), available 18/8/08 at UPNG Remote Sensing Centre.
