Count Us In urges actions such as eating local, making clothes last or buying an electric car
Some of the actions are as simple as opting for a portobello mushroom vegan burger instead of beef. Photograph: count_kert/Getty Images/iStockphoto
If a billion people around the world were to take a few small steps and make them into permanent lifestyle changes, global greenhouse gas emissions could be significantly reduced, a new campaign argues.
These actions can be as simple as eating local food, forgoing meat at some meals, and wearing clothes to last instead of throwing them away after a few outings.
The campaign, which is backed by businesses including Ikea, HSBC, BT and Reckitt Benckiser (owner of brands such as Cillit Bang, Gaviscon and Durex), is urging people to sign up to take at least one simple step that would reduce emissions.
Count Us In invites people to sign up online for the steps they want to take and a level of commitment, such as moving permanently to a different diet or promising not to fly over a specified period.
There are 16 steps on offer, of varying levels of difficulty. These range from having your house insulated, buying an electric car or solar panels and opting to fly less, to writing to political representatives and reusing and repairing belongings rather than buying new ones.
Some of the measures – such as turning down the thermostat and buying fewer new clothes – are ones that many people do routinely out of necessity rather than choice. However, the campaign aims to raise awareness among consumers that patterns of high consumption are unsustainable.
People signing up for the service will receive email reminders of further steps they could take: for instance, someone signing up to drive an electric vehicle would receive information about solar panels. A spokeswoman said people would not receive marketing material from specific companies. Count Us In calculates that 20% of global emissions could be reduced if 1 billion individuals take the steps it advocates.
“Imagine what the world would look like if a billion people took action to fight climate change,” said Chris Anderson, the head of TED, the online talks platform that is one of the backers. “We can all make a difference by taking simple practical steps.”
Pia Heidenmark Cook, the chief sustainability officer at Ingka Group, the largest Ikea franchisee, said: “We believe that urgency and optimism create action, and we need to act now. Many solutions already exist and if we all do our part, we can solve the climate crisis.”
Some climate activists not involved with the campaign privately expressed reservations to the Guardian, saying that large companies and governments must shoulder more responsibility.
Joel Lev-Tov, a youth climate activist, said: “[I find it] absolutely disgusting. It’s blaming the consumers for their choices instead of the fossil fuel companies and big business who are emitting more CO2 than I could ever emit in my lifetime in a few hours. While I appreciate the intention behind their campaign … individual change won’t help us solve the climate crisis.”
Eric Levine, a partner at the social enterprise Leaders’ Quest, one of the campaign’s backers, said: “We are trying to get to citizens who don’t think of themselves as climate change activists. If we don’t get that mass audience we won’t get the change we need [from governments]. These are steps that matter and we need everybody to be involved.”
Levine said Leaders’ Quest and Do Nation, which runs the project, would have access to the data of people who sign up, but that consumers could choose whether to give access to their details to the businesses participating. The pledges taken by participants will be made public but the user can choose whether to reveal their name.
The 68 business and cultural organisations backing the initiative include the football clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Forest Green Rovers, which will publicise the campaign to their supporters, and the Earthshot prize launched by Prince William this week.
You might be
surprised: Protecting peat bogs could help the world avert the worst
effects of global warming, a new study has found.
Forest and peatland that burned in a wildfire in the Netherlands in April. Credit...Sem Van Der Wal/EPA, via Shutterstock
Protecting
intact peatlands and restoring degraded ones are crucial steps if the
world is to counter climate change, European researchers said Friday.
In
a study, they said peat bogs, wetlands that contain large amounts of
carbon in the form of decaying vegetation that has built up over
centuries, could help the world achieve climate goals like the limit of 2
degrees Celsius of postindustrial warming that is part of the 2015
Paris agreement.
But without
protection and restoration efforts, some targets for greenhouse gas
emissions “would be very difficult or nearly impossible to achieve,”
said Alexander Popp, an author of the study, which was published in Environmental Research Letters. Dr. Popp is a senior scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, where he leads a group studying land-use issues.
Peatlands
exist around the world, in tropical as well as colder regions. They
make up only about 3 percent of global land area, but their deep layers
of peat are practically treasure chests of carbon, overall containing
roughly twice as much as the world’s forests.
In
pristine bogs, that carbon remains soggy and intact. But when a bog is
dried out, for agriculture or other reasons, the carbon starts to
oxidize and is released to the atmosphere as planet-warming carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
That
process potentially can continue for centuries. Current estimates are
that drained peatlands worldwide emit as much carbon dioxide annually as
global air travel.
But dry peat is
also a fire risk, and peat fires have the potential to release a lot of
carbon very quickly. In September and October 2015, peat fires in
Indonesia, where bogs have long been drained for palm oil plantations
and other purposes, released more carbon dioxide per day than all the fossil fuels burned in the European Union.
Dried
peatlands could be restored by allowing them to become wet again, which
would saturate the decaying vegetation and prevent further release of
carbon dioxide, and also eliminate the fire hazard.
“Rewetting them is really the core for reaching mitigation targets,” Dr. Popp said.
Most
pathways for countering climate change predict that by the end of this
century, land use, which includes forests and agriculture, would be a
net carbon sink, meaning it would store more carbon than the amount
being released to the atmosphere. That would slow the process of global
warming.
But most of those pathways
do not take emissions from degraded peatland into account, the
researchers said. When they plugged peatland data into their own
land-use model, they found that land use would be a net carbon source,
releasing more carbon dioxide than was stored.
The
researchers then calculated that protecting pristine wetlands and
rewetting about 60 percent of the degraded ones would reverse that,
making land use a net sink again.
Scientists collected peat samples in Red Earth Creek, Alberta, after a fire in 2016. Credit...Ed Ou for The New York Times
Mike
Waddington, a peat researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton,
Ontario, who was not involved in the work, said the study “makes a very
compelling case” in favor of restoring peatlands.
“Despite
covering a small area, they really pack a carbon punch when it comes to
carbon storage in ecosystems,” Dr. Waddington said. “They are really
important in global climate regulation.”
He
said the study made an important point: In current pathways for
changing land use to aid the climate, through planting more trees or
other measures, peatlands are often considered expendable.
"When
we think about storing carbon in ecosystems, it’s almost always about
planting trees,” Dr. Waddington said. There’s often tremendous pressure
to plant trees in drained peatlands, he said, but that’s the wrong
choice given the carbon-storing ability of an intact bog.
Peat
bogs are usually dried by digging ditches through them, which allows
the water to drain away. In addition to conversion to croplands, tree
plantations or forests, some peatlands are drained so the peat can be
extracted for use in horticulture or even, in some parts of the world,
for fuel.
“You only have to drain 10
to 15 percent of a peatland and start extracting peat to turn that
entire system into a source,” Dr. Waddington said.
Restoring them could be accomplished by blocking the ditches or building berms to keep the peat saturated, he said.
In
the study, the researchers found that there was considerable
uncertainty in estimates of the costs of protecting and restoring
peatlands. But even if the costs were at the high end, the basic finding
of the research was unchanged, they said.
“In a way it’s the low-hanging fruit,” Dr. Waddington said.
FILE -- In this Sept. 20, 2020 file photo, Pope Francis delivers his blessing as he recites the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican. The pontiff on Saturday, Oct. 10 recorded a video message to a TED conference on climate change, that will be released later Saturday night. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
TED
TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit devoted to spreading ideas, usually in the form of short talks (18 minutes or less). TED began in 1984 as a conference where technology, entertainment and design converged. Today it covers topics ranging from science to business and global issues in more than 100 languages.
VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis on Saturday issued an urgent call to action to defend the planet and help the poor in his second TED talk.
The pontiff, known for his affinity for social media and technology, said in a videotaped message to a TED conference on climate change that the coronavirus pandemic had put a focus on the social-environmental challenge facing the globe.
“Science tells us, every day with more precision, that it is necessary to act with urgency — I am not exaggerating, science tell us this — if we want to have the hope of avoiding radical changes in the climate and catastrophes,” Francis said, looking directly in the camera as he looked up from his prepared remarks.
He set as a goal for the next decade constructing a world capable of responding to current generations, “without compromising the possibilities of the future generations.” He framed his call with references to his 2015 encyclical on climate change, “Laudato Si,” (Be Praised) and the more recent “Fratelli tutti” (Brothers All) on the failure of market capitalism.
Francis laid out three paths of action: promoting education about the environment “based on scientific data and an ethical approach,” assuring drinking water and an adequate food supply through sustainable agriculture and promoting the transformation from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
“We have just a few years — scientists calculate roughly fewer than 30 — to drastically reduce the emissions of gas and the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere,” the pope said, adding that the transition needs to take into account the impact on the poor, local populations and those who work in the energy sector.
He called on investors to exclude companies that do not taking into account the environment, as have many faith-based organizations already have.
“In fact, the earth must be taken care of, cultivated and protected; we cannot continue to squeeze it like an orange. And we can say this, taking care of the Earth is a human right,” Francis said.
The six-hour Countdown Global Launch is TED’s first-ever free conference, featuring as hosts such figures as Jane Fonda, Don Cheadle and Al Gore, with speakers including Prince William of Britain and Ursula von der Leyen, a leading European Union official.
Immediate
actions are needed to limit the greenhouse gas emissions that are
driving climate change that helps fuel wildfires, a Monash University
study says.
Change In Length Wildfire Season
A future scenario of high greenhouse-gas emissions and no climate change–mitigation policy, with an increase in the global mean surface temperature of 2.2°C to 4.4°C relative to the 2019 level.
The report, which analysed numerous studies on
wildfires over the past 20 years, says global climate change is fueling
the three essential conditions for wildfires – fuel, oxygen and an
ignition source. The world is seeing inconsistent rainfall, increased
drought and hotter temperatures, leading to more flammable vegetation.
It
says the global mean carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from wildfires
accounted for about 22 per cent of the carbon emission from burning
fossil fuels between 1997-2016. The inconsistent approach to global
forest management and the conversion of tropical savannas to
agricultural lands is damaging the world’s ability to absorb CO2 and
cool the climate.
The report says projections suggest
that if high greenhouse gas emissions continue, wildfire exposure could
substantially increase to over 74 per cent of the global land mass by
the end of the century.
However, if immediate climate mitigation efforts are taken
to limit the global mean temperature increase to 2.0˚C or 1.5˚C, a
corresponding 60 per cent and 80 per cent, respective increase in
wildfire exposure could be avoided, the report says.
Reaching
the 1.5°C target would require reducing global net CO2 emissions by
about 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reaching net zero around
2050. The 1.5°C target remains achievable if CO2 emissions decline by
7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030.
The report says
the devastating health impacts are illustrated by several large and –
in some cases – unprecedented recent wildfires. These include the
2019-2020 Australian wildfires, the 2019 and 2020 Amazon fires in
Brazil, the 2018 and 2020 wildfires in the western US, the 2017-2018
wildfires in British Columbia, Canada, and the ongoing record-breaking
wildfires on the US West Coast.
Along with the increased
eye irritation, corneal abrasions and respiratory impacts of the smoke,
the psychological effects are equally as serious with post-traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and insomnia common. The
psychological consequences of wildfire events can persist for years,
with children and adolescents particularly vulnerable.
A 20-year study
on adults exposed to an Australian bushfire disaster as children in
1983 found an increase in psychiatric morbidity in adulthood, with
wildfire events associated with subsequent reductions in children’s
academic performance.
The
report says the current exchange between wildfires and climate change
is likely to form a reinforcing feedback loop, making wildfires and
their health consequences increasingly severe, unless we can come
together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Instrumental
to this study was the collaboration with Xu, Rongbin, Yu, Pei,
Abramson, Michael from Monash University, School of Public Health and
Preventive Medicine; Johnston, Fay; Menzies Institute for Medical
Research, University of Tasmania; Samet, Jonathan; Colorado School of
Public Health; Bell, Michelle; Yale University, School of Forestry and
Environmental Studies, Haines, Andy; London School of Hygiene and
Tropical Medicine, Public Health, Environments and Society Ebi, Kristie;
University of Washington School of Public Health, Department of Global
Health.
Earth's climate has changed throughout history. Just in the last 650,000
years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and retreat, with
the abrupt end of the last ice age about 11,700 years ago marking the
beginning of the modern climate era — and of human civilization.
Most of
these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in
Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet
receives.
Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal.
- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most
of it is extremely likely (greater than 95% probability) to be the
result of human activity since the mid-20th century and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented over decades to millennia.
Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have
enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different
types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale.
This body of data, collected over many years, reveals the signals of a
changing climate.
This graph, based on the comparison of atmospheric samples contained in
ice cores and more recent direct measurements, provides evidence that
atmospheric CO2 has increased since the Industrial
Revolution. (Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al.
2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna Loa CO2 record.) Find out more about ice cores (external site).
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the
atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA.
There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must
cause Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain
glaciers show that Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas
levels. Ancient evidence can also be found in tree rings, ocean
sediments, coral reefs, and layers of sedimentary rocks.
This ancient,
or paleoclimate, evidence reveals that current warming is occurring
roughly ten times faster than the average rate of ice-age-recovery
warming. Carbon dioxide from human activity is increasing more than 250
times faster than it did from natural sources after the last Ice Age.
The evidence for rapid climate change is compelling
Global Temperature Rise
The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2.05 degrees Fahrenheit (1.14 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere. Most of the warming occurred in the past 40 years, with the six warmest years on record taking place since 2014. Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight months out of that year — from January through September, with the exception of June — were the warmest on record for those respective months.
Warming Ocean
The ocean has absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 100 meters (about 328 feet) of ocean showing warming of more than 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.33 degrees Celsius) since 1969. Earth stores 90% of the extra energy in the ocean.
Image: Flowing meltwater from the Greenland ice sheet
Shrinking Ice Sheets
The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have decreased in mass. Data from NASA's Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment show Greenland lost an average of 279 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2019, while Antarctica lost about 148 billion tons of ice per year.
Decreased Snow Cover
Satellite observations reveal that the amount of spring snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere has decreased over the past five decades and the snow is melting earlier.
Image: Republic of Maldives: Vulnerable to sea level rise
Sea Level Rise
Global sea level rose about 8 inches (20 centimeters) in the last century. The rate in the last two decades, however, is nearly double that of the last century and accelerating slightly every year.
Extreme Events
The number of record high temperature events in the United States has been increasing, while the number of record low temperature events has been decreasing, since 1950. The U.S. has also witnessed increasing numbers of intense rainfall events.
Ocean Acidification
Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the acidity of surface ocean waters has increased by about 30%. This increase is the result of humans emitting more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and hence more being absorbed into the ocean. The ocean has absorbed between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in recent decades (7.2 to 10.8 billion metric tons per year).
The Reserve Bank has warned both climate change and lowering
emissions pose considerable risk to financial stability while regulators
assessing the threat have been delayed by the nation's worst recession
since World War II.
The central bank laid out a list of concerns
about the future resilience of the global economy in a financial
stability report released on Friday morning, describing climate change
as an "ongoing challenge for the financial system".
The RBA has warned about considerable risks from climate change. Credit: Peter Braig
"Climate
change is exposing financial institutions, and the financial system
more broadly, to risks that will rise over time and, if not addressed,
could become considerable," the report said. "These risks for financial
stability may arise from both the physical and transition risks of
climate change."
The report said the financial system was
generally resilient, but there were pre-existing risks including several
common to institutions across the world such as cyber risks from
criminal and state-sponsored groups and long-term risks from climate
change.
"Addressing
these [climate change risks] early will help to both mitigate the
transition risks and reduce the scale of the challenge that physical
risk poses to financial stability in future."
APRA's
assessment requires major banks, superannuation funds, insurers and
other financial institutions to estimate the physical impact of a
changing climate on their balance sheet and the risks of a global move
towards lower carbon emissions.
Financial institutions with high
exposure to industries like power and mining are expected to have higher
transition risk as the economy moves to lower carbon. There are also
risks involved in new technologies displacing emissions-intensive
practices and consumers picking greener products.
The RBA warned in 2019
that if transition changes occur too abruptly this could leave some
firms facing large losses and "broader dislocation in financial
markets".
APRA
executive board member Geoff Summerhayes said in February in a letter
to all regulated entities the watchdog would provide better clarity on
regulatory expectations around climate-related risks, which he said
extended to all sectors of the economy.
"Those
effects are being transmitted directly as well as indirectly, through
changing policies, technological developments, investment and consumer
preferences. They pose financial risks, as well as provide new business
opportunities, to all APRA-regulated entities," Mr Summerhayes said.
A
2018 APRA climate change survey found while many larger businesses
understood the financial risks and opportunities, there was an
industry-wide deficit of data able to quantify the liability risks of
climate change.
The RBA is part of the Network for Greening the
Financial System, which in June published a set of climate scenarios to
help with risk assessment. The research found climate change could
"obscure the assessment of correct monetary policy settings".
The
RBA's report notes the NGFS recommended "central banks strengthen their
analytical tool kits and enhance their communication strategies to help
accustom households, firms, governments and financial market
participants to the risks of climate change for the economy and the
financial system".
Major industry superannuation fund HESTA chief executive Debby Blakey wrote to Australia's top 200 listed companies in September
pressuring them to commit to lowering carbon emissions in line with the
Paris Agreement for net zero by 2050. Ms Blakey said that as a
long-term investor the fund has "an absolute responsibility to take into
account these issues".
However, Assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology Jane Hume has been critical of funds
for forgetting "their job isn't to rebuild the economy or create jobs
or reframe the climate debate or require industrial relations changes at
companies they invest in".
RBA governor Philip Lowe warned in February
climate change would have a "profound" impact on the economy, leaving
businesses with stranded assets, and encouraged the government to
protect the country from a warming environment.
Australia is a world leader in chopping down trees and
wiping out animals: two questionable accomplishments that are tightly
connected.
Land clearing and habitat loss are the biggest drivers of animal extinction and in recent years, Australia's aggressive rate of land clearing has ranked among the developed world's fastest.
We've
driven 29 mammals to extinction since European colonisation and more
than 1,700 others are threatened or endangered. The once abundant koala
is rapidly vanishing from New South Wales and Queensland.
But
how much land are we clearing? Getting a fix on this figure is tough.
The only nationally consistent data comes from the Federal Government's
National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA).
There are questions over the methodology used in that system — which we'll get to.
First,
let's look at the numbers state-by-state so you can get a picture of
how much land has been cleared, right across Australia, from 2010 until
the most recently available data in 2018.
Here they are, from lowest to highest.
('Primary' refers to forests 30 years and older. 'Reclearing' refers to any forest younger than that.)
Australian Capital Territory
One tree equals 1,000 hectares or 1,000 rugby union fields. (ABC: Emma Machan)
Land clearing in the ACT was the lowest of any Australian state or territory between 2010 and 2018.
Imagine a strip of land 1-kilometre wide, and 15-kilometres long — that's equivalent to the 1500 hectares cleared in the ACT.
And it was all reclearing.
Why so low? ACT is tiny, and since 2011 its forestry industry figures are reported as part of New South Wales.
Northern Territory
One tree equals 1,000 hectares or 1,000 rugby union fields. (ABC: Emma Machan)
This time our 1-kilometre-wide piece of cleared land would stretch 318km, say from Canberra to just beyond Sydney.
The majority of the 31,800 hectares cleared in the NT was for agriculture.
However,
that figure comes with some very big caveats because during that same
period, more than 82,000 hectares were granted approval for clearing
under pastoral land clearing applications in the NT.
Either some of those landholders still haven't cleared that land, or it hasn't been picked up by NGA survey methods.
Tasmania
Land clearing in Tasmania between 2010 and 2018, where one tree represents 1,000 hectares. (ABC: Emma Machan)
If
we convert Tasmania's 66,500 cleared hectares to a 1-kilometre-wide
strip of land, it would be 665-kilometres long or the distance from
Melbourne to Canberra.
While Tasmania's area of
land clearing is more than double the Northern Territory's, the total
land area of Tasmania is only one-twentieth the size.
Native forest logging has been a flashpoint in Tasmania for decades.
Youtube Tasmania's forest wars
But in 2012, a peace deal was struck between loggers and protestors.
From
a relative high point of 14,500 hectares cleared in a year back in
2008, only 5,300 hectares were cleared in 2018, according to NGA data.
The
moratorium on logging of around 356,000 hectares of that forest lifted
in April of this year, and there are fears that the forestry wars of old
could kick off again.
South Australia
Land clearing in South Australia between 2010 and 2018, where one tree represents 1,000 hectares.(ABC: Emma Machan)
A total of 108,700 hectares was cleared in South Australia.
If
we go back to our 1-kilometre-wide strip of land, South Australia's
total clearing stretches almost 1,100km from Newcastle to Melbourne.
More
than 90 per cent of that land was classified as reclearing, meaning it
had been cleared at least once in the previous 30 years.
Victoria
Land clearing in Victoria between 2010 and 2018, where one tree represents 1,000 hectares. (ABC: Emma Machan)
A total of 177,900 hectares were cleared in Victoria, with 16,300 of that classified as forest over 30 years old.
This time our 1-kilometre-wide piece of land would stretch from Hobart to the southern suburbs or Brisbane.
Like Tasmania, native forest logging in Victoria has been a hotly contested issue.
In
2019, Premier Dan Andrews committed to ending native forest logging in
the state by 2030, and in the wake of last season's devastating
bushfires there have been calls to bring that end forward.
But
in April this year, the Victorian environment department updated and
extended five regional forest agreements (RFAs) covering native forest
logging in different parts of the state.
Timber
harvesting operations done in accordance with RFAs "are not subject to
certain Commonwealth legislative requirements", according to the
Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP).
"This streamlines regulatory processes for the timber industry," according to the Department.
Combined
with hotter summer extremes this has resulted in the collapse of some
species including around 16,000 hectares of northern jarrah forest.
New South Wales
Land clearing in New South Wales between 2010 and 2018, where one tree represents 1,000 hectares. (ABC: Emma Machan)
More than 88,000 hectares of primary forest was cleared in New South Wales.
Reclearing takes the state's entire land clearing tally to 663,000 hectares.
That
makes our 1-kilometre wide strip of cleared land almost 7,000
kilometres long, roughly stretching from Perth to Cairns via Brisbane.
In
2017, New South Wales relaxed its native vegetation clearing laws,
however the impact that has had on land clearing is expected to show up
in the reporting periods for 2019 and 2020.
A
leaked report from the Natural Resources Commission last year suggested
that land clearing may have surged by as much as 13 times.
The main driver of clearing in New South Wales is agriculture.
Queensland
Deforestation in Queensland between 2010 and 2018, where one tree represents 1,000 hectares. (ABC: Emma Machan)
The total area of land cleared in Queensland was 2,446,600 hectares.
Our
1km wide strip of cleared land would stretch for a whopping 24,466
kilometres — roughly all the way around Australia twice (minus Tassie).
Of that cleared land, 370,900 hectares were forests over 30 years old.
The
vast majority of clearing in Queensland is for agriculture — over 90
per cent of cleared forest was replaced by pasture in the years
2016-2019.
In contrast to New South Wales,
Queensland's land clearing laws were tightened in 2018 and it's expected
that clearing figures will drop significantly in the coming reporting
periods.
But the data shows we've had a net increase in tree cover
Despite
the clearing of more than 3.5 million hectares nationally during the
2010-2018 period, according to the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA)
data there has been a net increase in tree cover in Australia during
that time.
To get to that conclusion, they have
compared the amount of cleared land (3.78 million hectares) with the
amount of land allowed to regrow (4.19 million hectares), to come up
with a "net forest clearing" figure of negative-401,000 hectares.
Again,
the lion's share of that regrowth — 2.7 million hectares —has
reportedly happened in Queensland, and to a lesser extent in New South
Wales.
But critics say this does not represent what
is happening in our forests from a wildlife conservation or carbon
storage perspective.
The issue is that a mature
forest can be cleared in one place, and an equivalent area of
three-foot-high saplings may have regrown in another.
In
that case the data would show no net loss in forest cover, despite a
significant deficit of carbon storage and habitat occurring.
The
analysis is done via satellite imagery and cannot pick up subtle
differences happening at ground level, according to WWF forestry expert
Martin Taylor.
"The LULUCF activity tables are very primitive," Dr Taylor said.
"If a pixel goes from 'forest' to 'non-forest' that's counted as deforestation. Could be a year old or 300."
The NGA data also fails to pick up forest thinning, according to Dr Taylor.
The
NGA method is based on satellite imagery where 20 per cent canopy cover
or greater is classified as forest. Only when an area drops below that
20 per cent threshold is it registered as forest loss.
According
to Dr Taylor that means a dense forest can be thinned from 95 per cent
canopy to 21 per cent canopy, for instance, without registering as
having been cleared under the NGA method.
There is
no official data on how widespread this may be, however Dr Taylor said
he had found numerous instances by trawling through satellite imagery —
several of which he showed to the ABC.
Tree thinning shown between the image in 2015 (left) and 2016 (right) wasn't picked up in the NGA data. (Supplied)
Discrepancies in data
Other questions have also been raised about the NGA land clearing data.
Unlike
other states and territories, Queensland also has its own statewide
annual land clearing monitoring program based on a method called
Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATs).
When
comparing the data for land clearing in Queensland from the SLATs method
and the NGA method, there are vast discrepancies between the two —
discrepancies which cast further doubt on the idea that Australia's tree
budget is "in the black".
For instance, using the
SLATs method the Queensland state government reported 356,000 and
392,000 hectares were cleared in Queensland in the periods 2016-17
(winter-to-winter) and 2017-18 respectively.
But
the National Greenhouse Accounts (NGA) figures for Queensland show only
304,000 and 254,400 hectares were cleared for the 2017 and 2018 periods —
almost 190,000 hectares less.
In a statement to
the ABC, a spokesperson for the Department of Industry, Science, Energy
and Resources said that is was "misleading to make simple comparisons"
between the different reporting methods, and that the Department was
confident its records are "complete and accurate".
"There is no underestimate of areas or emissions reported in the National Greenhouse Accounts," the spokesperson said.
"Only the Australian Government's reporting is undertaken in accordance with international standards established by the UNFCCC."
But Dr Taylor from the WWF disputes that.
"It's ridiculous to say there is more forest [now than 10 years ago]," he said.
Calls for a standardised national monitoring system
According
to Dr Taylor, the SLATs method gives a more accurate measure of tree
loss and the WWF are calling for a standardised national system for
monitoring forest cover in Australia.
Neither
Queensland's Department of Environment and Science (DES) nor the Federal
Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources responded
directly to questions from the ABC about the differences in their
methodologies, but both said they were confident in their systems.
A DES spokesperson told the ABC that "SLATs applies a highly rigorous methodology".
"Queensland's
SLATs data undergoes extensive manual editing and verification to
ensure a high level of confidence in the data for Queensland's
monitoring and reporting requirements."
Meanwhile,
Australia continues to be compared with some of the worst offending
countries in the world when it comes to land clearing.
The
data for the 2018-19 reporting periods, particularly from Queensland
and New South Wales, will determine whether that has changed.
