Finland's forests work as massive carbon sink
HELSINKI, Jun 23, 2010 -- Xinhua
The capacity of Finland's forests to absorb carbon dioxide from the
atmosphere has doubled in the past 20 years, Finnish media reported
Wednesday.
According to Finnish Forest Research Institute, Finland's forests absorb
42 million tonnes of carbon dioxide a year, which is well over half of
Finnish carbon dioxide emissions, which were 70 million tonnes in 2008.
Finnish forests contain about 2.2 billion cubic meters of wood, and
about 100 million a year is added through natural growth. The growth
rate means that 70 million cubic meters of wood could be felled each
year without leading to a net loss. When new growth constantly exceeds
what is extracted, forests turn into a carbon sink. Growth of trees has
increased the ability of Finland's forests to absorb carbon, even though
construction of buildings and transport infrastructure has slightly
encroached on forests.
The institute calculates that the harvesting of energy wood would not
have any significant impact on sustainable felling of wood for raw
materials. Energy wood mainly involves branches, treetops, stumps, and
parts of the trunk that are not suitable for cooking into pulp.
In years such as 2009, when wood extraction from forests is low, energy
wood would be available from the thinning of young forests. Thinning
young forests could bring in up to 10 million cubic meters of energy
wood.
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