Tasmania is a state in Australia but is separated from the Australian mainland. The island’s nature varies from deep, green rainforests and high mountains with rushing rivers to agricultural landscapes with vineyards, green fields, white sandy beaches and small towns. But there is more going on than meets the eye. Australian researchers have found that the island absorbs more CO2 than it emits. This is partly due to the fact that in 2011 and 2012, forestry was made more sustainable, as the felling of the oldest trees was greatly reduced. And for every tree that is felled, they either plant a new one or there is room for the area to be recreated naturally. Today, Tasmania boasts of being one of the only areas in the world that absorbs more CO2 than they emit. They share the podium with Bhutan in South Asia and Suriname in South America. “Tasmania has gone from emitting CO2 to absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere,” Brendan Mackey, a professor at Griffith University, told the Australian news media ABC. He is one of the people behind the study which shows that Tasmania saves the world 22 million tonnes of CO2 a year. – It is one of the first times that somewhere on the planet has made this form of change. It is a remarkable achievement, says Har. Sustainable forestry is not about completely felling trees. Large trees shed seeds. When a large tree is felled, the seeds grow because the light finally arrives. It is therefore rarely a problem that the trees are felled, but it becomes a problem if it is felled for many. If all large trees are felled in an area, there is no collection of seeds that can grow and this causes the forest to shrink. Biodiversity is also happy with old trees A new report from the UN’s climate panel IPCC points out that sustainable forestry, reforestation and less deforestation are some of the most effective climate solutions. At a global level, climate-wise forest management is considered to have the potential to deliver a gain of two billion tonnes of CO2 equivalents in uptake and avoided emissions annually. However, climate solutions with forests in focus are more expensive than, for example, building wind turbines. But wind turbines do not solve the whole problem, and therefore many different climate solutions are needed if we are to reach the green transition by 2030. Plant ecologist Johan Dahlgren, who is an associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark, agrees. He believes that it will have an effect everywhere, if forestry became more sustainable. But it should be combined with lowering the use of fossil fuels, because it has an even greater effect on the carbon balance. – Tasmania does not have much CO2 emissions, from the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore the carbon balance has been achieved faster than will be possible elsewhere. It is not only for the climate that old trees should be left standing, but also for biodiversity. – It has major consequences for biodiversity when felling old trees. There are many other organisms such as insects and fungi that can only live in the old trees. Old trees are also important for many other animal species, such as birds, which feed on the insects that live in the trees, he says. – Tasmania has managed to carry out sustainable forestry in the right way. Namely a combination of leaving old trees and planting new trees, because the new trees absorb a lot of CO2 while they are growing up. The old trees store large amounts of carbon they have absorbed throughout their lives and are rich in biodiversity.
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The Australian state absorbs more CO2 than it emits
