Read this thread on effects of misguided biofuel policies in the West on deforestation and massive carbon emissions.
The planet’s forests have the potential to sequester as much as a third of the carbon in the air. /1
The planet’s forests have the potential to sequester as much as a third of the carbon in the air. /1
Land use changes of natural forests are a key area around global carbon emissions.
Peatland forests such as the ones in Kalimantan, Indonesia, hold 12 times as much carbon as other tropical rainforests around the world. /2
Peatland forests such as the ones in Kalimantan, Indonesia, hold 12 times as much carbon as other tropical rainforests around the world. /2
The European Biofuel Mandate & the American Biofuels Law were designed to support soybean, wheat and corn farmers, not palm-oil producers in Indonesia. But they did do the latter causing massive slash-and-burn activities of peatland forests leading to unprecedented emissions. /3
Fires spreading from slash-and-burn clearing for palm plantations are an annual risk. In 2015, they contributed to a global burst of carbon emissions that NASA scientists said was the largest increase in emissions in 2,000 years. /4
Right now deforestation globally contributes to 15 percent of the planet’s total GHG emissions and much of it is caused by unintended consequences of Biofuel policies in developed countries that were supposed to lead to carbon reductions. /5
Indonesia’s peatland conversion to palm oil plantations emit more carbon each year than the total GHG of the entire state of California. /6
Read more: features.propublica.org/palm-oil/palm-…
Read more: features.propublica.org/palm-oil/palm-…
