NOTE: GJEP Executive Director Anne Petermann and Daphne Wysham of SEEN co-founded the Durban Group for Climate Justice in 2004. Daphne is an expert on climate policy and carbon trading.
Promoting cutting trees to store carbon! It’s 1984 all over again.
But as Daphne Wysham, Director for Climate and Energy Program Center for Sustainable Economy points out, the concepts behind this Thomas Reuters Foundation article Ditch metal and plastic and turn to wood to save the planet, says U.N., seem like they could lead to misunderstandings and carbon credits for clearcuts. And relying on Forest Stewardship Council is, of course, unreliable as the Center for Sustainable Economony report referred to in this article showed.
Forests play an important role in storing carbon emissions in leaves, branches and soil. Meanwhile, deforestation and forest degradation account for up to 12 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, (U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization) said.
Materials such as concrete, plastic or aluminium, require a lot of energy from fossil fuels to produce. Even recycling plastic is not as environmentally friendly as some people may think.
“When you are recycling plastic you use too much energy,” said Nadege Nzoyem, Central Africa manager of the conservation non-profit Rainforest Alliance.
“Wood will turn into organic material if you just leave it outside,” she said by phone from Cameroon on Thursday.
