Tiny beetle tramps over emission targets
April 25, 2008
Link: Globeand Mail reportonbusiness.com: Tiny beetle tramps over emission targets.
A pine beetle study released this week by Natural Resources Canada contains the eye-popping revelation that B.C.'s forests – far from being a weapon in the fight against carbon dioxide – have been spewing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere for six years. The culprit is the pine beetle, which has turned vast swaths of forest into rotting stands of punky wood. Next year, those decaying logs will emit 73 megatonnes of carbon dioxide – more than the entire economy of British Columbia, which is likely to clock in at something just over 70 megatonnes.