Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles

This criterion, which comprises only one indicator, quantifies and reports the effects of forest management and forest land-use change on greenhouse gas emissions and sequestration. Forests are an important component of the global carbon cycle, and the flux in forest carbon stocks is a key indicator of sustainable forest management.

Key findings on forest contribution to global carbon cycles

• Australia's forests sequester (absorb) more greenhouse gases from the atmosphere than they emit (release) and therefore help to offset Australia's contribution to global greenhouse gas emissions. Plantations offset about 3.5% and managed native forests about 5.5% of total Australian greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. Additional storage in wood products offset a further 1% of emissions.
• Deforestation, mainly for agriculture but also for urban development, was responsible for about 9% of total Australian greenhouse gas emissions in 2005. Carbon emissions from deforestation declined from about 70 million tonnes in 2002 to 53.3 million tonnes in 2005.
• A net amount of greenhouse gases equivalent to 43.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide (11.9 million tonnes of carbon) was sequestered in managed native forests in 2005. About 3.8 million tonnes of carbon, or 0.06% of the total stock of biomass carbon in native forests, was removed yearly as roundwood (logs). Therefore, in 2005, about three times more carbon was sequestered than was removed or emitted in managed native forests subject to harvest and regrowth from prior harvest.
• Extensive wildfires in native forests during the reporting period released large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Over time, those emissions are expected to be offset by new forest growth since total native forest carbon stocks have changed little over the long term (i.e. 1989-2004).
• Fire in managed native forests caused greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2005, a year of below-average fire impact. Those emissions were likely replaced in subsequent new forest growth.

Full report for Criterion 5 - Maintenance of forest contribution to global carbon cycles PDF [841kb]