Forest carbon accounting

Forest carbon accounting

Measuring the carbon content of primary forest trees and soils

Understanding and accurately measuring the carbon content of primary forest trees and soils is essential if they are to be managed correctly. The accurate carbon accounting of forests will help us better understand their value in mitigating climate change, as well as their potential value in the growing area of carbon finance.

The program has demonstrated that improved carbon accounting demonstrates the huge value of the carbon sinks that primary forests provide. These carbon sinks, combined, with the continued growth of primary forest trees make protecting them essential in combating climate change.

This work provided important evidence and support that resulted in forest protection being included in the Glasgow Pact.

Dr Brendan Mackey

Brendan Mackey

Project Director and Director of the Griffith Climate Action Beacon at Griffith University, contributing to community planning and engagement in forest projects.
Heather Keith

Heather Keith

Heather is a Senior Research Fellow at Griffith University. Her research is aimed at understanding the functioning of terrestrial ecosystems, particularly forests, to improve their management for conservation and climate change mitigation.
Brendan Rogers

Brendan Rogers

Dr. Rogers investigates how boreal forests are responding to climate change and land use, how this feeds back to climate change, and how management and policy can be used for mitigation and adaptation.
Dominick Dellasala

Dominick DellaSalla

Dominick is Chief Scientist at Wild Heritage, and former President of the Society for Conservation Biology, North America Section and internationally renowned author of over 200 science papers on forest and fire ecology, conservation biology, endangered species management, and landscape ecology. .

Forest carbon accounting publications

Tree structure and diversity shape the biomass of primary temperate mountain forests

Primary forests are spatially diverse terrestrial ecosystems with unique characteristics, being naturally regenerative and heterogeneous, which supports the stability of their carbon storage through the accumulation of live and dead biomass. Yet, little is known about the interactions between biomass stocks, tree genus diversity and structure across a temperate montane primary forest.

Policy brief: Carbon accounting improvements for operationalising the Glasgow Climate Pact

The need for integrated policy action to mitigate climate change and conserve biodiversity has now been recognised in Article 38 of the Glasgow Climate Pact. This emphasises the importance of protecting, conserving and restoring nature and ecosystems, including forests and other terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

Using ecosystem integrity to maximise climate mitigation and minimise risk in international forest policy

Rules and guidelines that treat forests equally in key international policy frameworks regardless of their risk profiles limit their effectiveness and can facilitate forest degradation. Here we assess the potential for using a framework of ecosystem integrity to guide policy goals.

Burning forest biomass for energy is a climate own goal

Data from Europe shows that there has been a major increase in the intensification of logging in Europe over the past five to seven years and this could prevent many European nations reaching their emissions reduction targets under the Paris and Glasgow agreements. The same process is now being pushed heavily by certain forest industry lobbyists and government agencies in several Australian states, including Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales.