{"id":58363,"date":"2021-06-24T06:43:14","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T11:43:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58363"},"modified":"2021-06-24T06:43:14","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T11:43:14","slug":"the-climate-disaster-hidden-in-bcs-forests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=58363","title":{"rendered":"The Climate Disaster Hidden in BC\u2019s Forests"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Climate Disaster Hidden in BC\u2019s Forests<\/a><\/h3>\n

The province doesn\u2019t count forest emissions in its global warming plan. That\u2019s a big, dangerous mistake, say advocates.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n

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\"SlashBurningSmoke.jpeg\"
Burning slash \u2014 the wood left unused during logging \u2014 produces more carbon emissions than BC\u2019s entire agricultural sector.\u00a0Photo by Torrance Coste.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n
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Here are two key words that have been largely left out of the broiling debate around British Columbia\u2019s old-growth forests: carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

Even in the recent\u00a0forest policy update<\/a>, the provincial government only mentioned carbon emissions twice. And that was to say forests suck up and store carbon, which environmental advocates warn doesn\u2019t tell the whole story.<\/p>\n

By B.C.\u2019s own reporting, forests are the largest emitters of greenhouse gases in the province \u2014 23 per cent larger than the total emissions from the energy sector.<\/p>\n

To talk about forests while ignoring carbon emissions is \u201cclimate denialism,\u201d says Torrance Coste, senior campaign director for the Wilderness Committee.<\/p>\n

When B.C. reports its official carbon emissions, that number excludes emissions from forests. Coste says that\u2019s a huge problem, because \u201cemissions associated with forests in some years surpass B.C.\u2019s total emissions. Which is staggering. It\u2019s like a second B.C. we don\u2019t count.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coste says the province has a long history of siloing two ministries \u2014 the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and the Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development \u2014 and acting like they never overlap.<\/p>\n

The 2018 provincial climate change strategy,\u00a0CleanBC<\/a>, also skates around emissions from forests.<\/p>\n

But with the climate emergency it\u2019s urgent the two departments work together to tackle emissions from forests, Coste says.<\/p>\n

B.C. counts and reports its annual greenhouse gas emissions in a\u00a0methodology book<\/a>.<\/p>\n