An unsophisticated 20th century approach

Nick Clark Mercury
THE era in which regeneration burns were acceptable was drawing to a close, a Tasmanian scientist says. University of Tasmania researcher David Bowman was commenting on revelations by Forestry Tasmania to a Senate committee that it did not model carbon emissions from regeneration burns. “Tasmania is vulnerable because there will be tremendous international pressure to stop de-forestation in developing countries to cut greenhouse gases, and corresponding pressure to end regeneration burns,” Prof Bowman said. He said burning was an unsophisticated 20th century approach and the licence to do it was dropping away. Read more here

“Finding an alternative to regeneration burns should be a number one priority,” Prof Bowman said.

He said he was surprised that Forestry Tasmania, as a potentially carbon neutral business, did not model burn-offs.

“It is a form of denial not to use all the science they can,” he said.

Prof Bowman and 21 researchers have had their findings on the contribution of fire to carbon dioxide emissions published in the prestigious journal Science.

The international study funded by the US National Science Foundation found that fire had been overlooked as a cause of climate change.

Prof Bowman who is an expert in forestry, ecology and plant science, said fires contributed to climate change.

“Fires are one of the largest causes of increased carbon dioxide emissions in the atmosphere,” he said.

“There is also methane, aerosol particles in smoke and the changing reflectance of a charred landscape which contributes to changes in climate.”

And Prof Bowman said Tasmania would probably face the extreme fire conditions experienced by Victoria in February.

“We could have a handful of Kinglakes, not just one,” he said.

Prof Bowman said the community needed to reconsider the places people lived.

He said people needed to be aware of the risks they were taking living in bushland areas.

Prof Bowman said researchers were concerned that fire had not been rigorously and adequately incorporated in climate models.

“Climate affects fire, but (it is) more worrying that fire affects climate.

“And this has been overlooked in projections,” he said.

“Our work highlighting the importance of fire in the earth system presents challenges for modelling future climates and managing greenhouse gas emissions,” he said.