Carbon Debts
Image source: Pbase.comCurrent debate on sustainability and global warming relates to green house gases emissions. Those experts with vested interest to potray negatively on targeted industries are devising and manupulating various formulae and asssumptions to potray undesirable carbon emmission figures for their targeted industry while carefully ajusting to ensure their national industries competing in the related industries are not affected. Palm oil industry has been facing this manupulative expert data for sometime now in the EU and USA.
One simple approach used is to arbitarily establish a cut-off date in counting the start of carbon emission. The RSPO wanted the cut-off year to be 2005. The EU is proposing 2007. Both dates will exclude the agricultural areas of the EU or USA from having a carbon debt based on the removal of the original forest on the land before it was turned into agriculture. Competing crops from these countries in the form of rapeseed or soya will have a head start in their comparison with palm oil when relating to their carbon emission numbers.
I would propose that all land when turned into agricultural use will carry a carbon emmission debt based on the original forest that was cleared. The cleared forest which acted as a carbon sink had released carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. If the land is reforested the carbon debt is repaid. Developed countries can opt to reforest their converted land rather than ask developing countries to sacrifice development through no deforestation.
This recognition of a past carbon debt on every hectare of land under agriculture is a fairer basis as the starting point for calculating carbon emission numbers of various crops. If I have some support on this idea, it may be worthwhile to push it as a standard for international adoption.
I do support you on the idea that carbon debt exists, and that it should somehow be repaid, by both developed and developing countries (Malaysia included) However, the cultivation of oil palm brings its own carbon debt as well, about 83 years, if planted on former rainforest, and 423 years on peatland rainforest, 2nd only to soybeans planted on Brazilian rainforest. Check out //news.mongabay.com/2008/0207-biofuels.html for a list of crop carbon debts. However, the calculation of both carbon debt and repayment of carbon debt must be given some serious thought. I propose that it include the emissions of vehicles used to chop down or replant trees in the area (tractors, bulldozers, etc.). But, Datuk, I think that it is not that simple to say that if the land is reforested, the debt is repaid; again, it must be calculated seriously, using data like species of trees before and after replanting, besides amount and type of inhabitants of the forest, as this information determines how much carbon is released by the organisms’ respiration within the forest. Even after the inclusion of these data in the calculation, we must follow the development and growth of the replanted forest, to make sure that the trees grow as healthy as the previous forest, to make sure that the replanted forest can re-absorb enough carbon dioxide to repay the debt. And lastly, before the released carbon can begin to wreak havoc on our planet’s climate, we must propose a maximum amount of years to repay the debt, and some way of making sure that countries do not exceed a certain amount of debt, and that they pay back a certain amount of debt before they cut down more forests. Of course, a major solution to our carbon woes, that would inadvertently create less carbon debts in the first place is to not use food crops as fuel. The use of non- food crops that can grow on arid land, like jatropha, and development on cellulosic ethanol would greatly help us avoid entering into carbon debts in the first place. However, in the understanding that a carbon debt system is needed, for cutting down forests for agricultural use will continue even without the use of food crops as fuel, I give you my full support on the matter. Please feel free to e-mail me if you require any assistance, opinions or advice on the matter.