Forest clearing in Asia fuels global warming

Burning to clear forest land in equatorial Asia can pump massive amounts of climate-warming carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to a new study.

Researchers examining climate and fire data found that the burning increases during drought. In 2006, carbon emissions from deforestation in Borneo, Sumatra and New Guinea were 30 times greater than in 2000, which was wetter.

"Land managers respond to the drought by using fire to clear more land," said James Randerson, a climate scientist at UC Irvine and co-author of the study, published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "In dry years, they burn deeper into the forest, which in turn releases more carbon dioxide."

Citing the findings, he suggested that limits on deforestation should be an important part of future climate agreements.

--Bettina Boxall

Comments

[Leigh]

How exactly are you 'fueling' global warming when temperatures stopped rising over a decade ago? Anthropogenic Global Warming is a scam.

[sheila]

scraping the Mojave for any purpose, including Big Solar, Big Wind and Big Transmission, has also proven to emit as much CO2 (and permanently prevent any re-uptake of CO2) as burning a temperate forest. so how are Big Energy companies getting away with calling their projects "renewable" or "green?"

local, point of use solutions are the only GREEN energy solutions, the rest are greenwashed Big Energy ploys to rip us off. let's focus our attention on getting LADWP to do an RFP for 100,000 rooftop solar systems at 5 kW apiece for under $4/watt (less tax credits and other incentives). DWP can have the systems installed on private homes, and the homeowners can repay the cost as a VERY affordable loan through the property tax system (which also ensures that LADWP will get their money back - 100%). LADWP will then pay the homeowners 30 cents/kWh for this super-peaker power that is produced, resell the power at a profit, and everyone wins.

NO more blasting, boring, scraping, trenching, paving, drilling or other destructive activities should be allowed in the Mojave, and especially under a fake halo of "green." time that LA takes our destiny into our own hands, and time that OUR utlity, which WE own, starts working for US. they need to start by getting solar panels on our roofs which WE own and get paid for.