Gwenda Sheridan
Have been making my way through the text put up on TasTimes (done by all the people to bring a truer picture of what happens in Tasmania). As yet, I can’t get the images but I’m sure they’ll come.
In the course of the text I struck a figure which I think is highly conservative. This was that carbon sequestration of the old forests would be $9 billion.
Below I’ve taken an extract from a submission I did in respect of the Planning Review in June 2008…
Below I’ve taken an extract from a submission I did in respect of the Planning Review in June 2008. Lindenmayer put the Vict. 200,000 hectares at $80 billion and that was with a carbon price of just $19.00 Perhaps you might pass this on to the relevant folk and they could check with Lindenmayer who is very conversant with the Tasmanian situation.
“7. The energy crisis.
Energy reduction has to be a key to the new planning. The development footprint and its associated carbon input has to be reduced. Carbon accounting will become the new buzz word. Unless this has an attached vision which promotes the integrity of all life and a quality-of-life it will simply become another mechanism whereby the market place seeks to make quick big bucks. We are bound to hear a great deal about carbon accounting and tree plantations; these seen as a mechanism for carbon uptake. It has been noted that the National Association of Forest Industries may request a vastly expanded forestry sector for carbon credits; this to provide for northern hemisphere investment. Forest based credits ‘could meet at least 20% of the required 60% emissions by 2050,’ with longer rotations. Waste would be used for biofuels.[1] Carbon sequestration is seen as a much better alternative for Tasmania with its high value forests. David Lindenmayer, referred to earlier, noted in a recent interview, that the old ash forests of Victoria, produced over 2,000 tonnes of carbon per hectare in the above ground biomass. These astronomical figures were way in excess of the 90 tonnes offered by the IPCC. Westpac and AGL had given a figure of $19 tonne for carbon so in 200,000 hectares of Victorian forest, the value of carbon sequestration reached a staggering $80 billion. Royalties to the same forest were half a billion.[2] It is considered these figures have enormous implications for Tasmania’s forest strategy.”
Cheers and have a good Christmas. Gwenda Sheridan
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[1] Allan Fels and Fred Brenchley. Budget? Let the real test begin. Sydney Morning Herald. 17-18 May. 2008.
[2] David Lindenmayer interviewed by Alexandra deBlas in her report on the National Business Leader’s Forum. ABC/RN. The Science Show. 7 June. 2008.
