Wilderness Society, Humane Society International MR
UN body accuses Australia of hiding emissions from forestry and land use change

MEDIA RELEASE 10th March 2009
UN BODY ACCUSES AUSTRALIA OF HIDING EMISSIONS FROM
FORESTRY AND LAND USE CHANGE
The United Nations Climate Change body has accused Australia of hiding greenhouse gas
emissions from forestry and land clearing in the UN Expert Review Team’s report on
Australia’s greenhouse gas inventory, the Wilderness Society and Humane Society
International said today.
The inventory reveals that Australia’s emissions since 1990 have risen dramatically in the
energy and industrial sectors, and that it is only the claimed reductions in emissions from the
LULUCF sector (Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry) that prevented Australia from
recording a 30% increase in emissions. A 7% increase is reported.
The UN Expert Review Team made particular comment on issues with the National Carbon
Accounting System (NCAS), and on underestimations of emissions from forest clearance and
from fire in forests and native vegetation.
The Wilderness Society and Humane Society International, who are Australian-based
members of a new international alliance, the Ecosystems Climate Alliance (ECA), are calling
on the Rudd government to admit the problems of reporting and accounting in the LULUCF
sector that they inherited from John Howard, and to make a commitment to make them
honest.
“Honesty is a big issue for Australia where greenhouse gas emissions from forestry and land
clearing are concerned and we want the Rudd government to fess up to the system they
inherited that covers up emissions, and act to fix it so that Australians know what is really
happening and what we must do to reduce the impacts,” said Virginia Young, spokesperson
for the Wilderness Society.
“The very pointed question mark put over Australia’s underestimations, lack of transparency,
and lack of completeness in its greenhouse gas report for forestry and land use change is
particularly alarming because Australia is relying on this sector to satisfy its international
obligations in the face of increasing emissions in energy production and industry.”
“Reporting has been fiddled to make forestry operations and deforestation appear climate
friendly, even though cessation of land clearing in Queensland enabled a claim to huge
emissions reductions due to the selection of 1990 as the base year.”
“The much vaunted National Carbon Accounting System comes in for criticism over its lack
of transparency, and as a result the UN expresses a lack of confidence in the inventory data
on forestry and land use, saying it must be verified,” said Nicola Beynon for Humane Society
International.
“Carbon released from forest clearance is underestimated according to the UN experts, who
express strong reservations about the method by which the biomass of that forest was
inferred.”
“Australia also failed to deliver on an undertaking to review methane emissions factors used
to estimate carbon release from burning forests and native vegetation. The UN says this is an
important emissions source they believe has been underestimated and for which the UN
guidance has not been followed.”
“The upshot is that Australia is cheating on the amount of emissions from clearing forests
and from the burning of forests and native vegetation, a situation which is unacceptable.”
“ Where emissions result from an extraordinary natural event such as wildfire we need to
know what those emissions are and then devise ways to ensure that such events and
emissions are reported but distinguished from things like fuel reduction fires in a way that
avoids penalizing Australia for massive emissions it could not have controlled,” Ms Beynon
concluded.
View UNFCCC report at http://www.climate-l.org/2009/01/-unfccc-secretariatreleases-
review-of-three-national-ghg-inventories-.html

Ecosystems Climate Alliance

The Ecosystems Climate Alliance1 (ECA) is an alliance of environment and social NGOs committed
to keeping natural terrestrial ecosystems intact and their carbon out of the atmosphere, in an equitable
and transparent way that respects the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. ECA
recognises that avoiding emissions of terrestrial carbon stored in the soils and biomass of forests,
peatlands and wetlands represents the largest potential single opportunity for cost-effective
greenhouse gas mitigation. ECA advocates climate, forest and land use policies to give strong,
equitable, transparent and positive incentives free of perversities for avoiding the degradation of
terrestrial carbon stores and for rehabilitating degraded land, supported by effective forest
governance, robust monitoring and demand-side policies to ensure meaningful outcomes.
1
Comprising Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Global Witness, Humane Society International, Rainforest
Foundation Norway, The Rainforest Foundation U.K, Wetlands International and The Wilderness Society.