Newsletter ~ April 2018 by Woodwell Climate Research Center

MONTHLY NEWSLETTER APRIL 2018

Woods Hole Research Center Burning wood for energy is not “carbon neutral” Dr. Philip B. Duffy President & Executive Director On Earth Day, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a policy that incentivizes the destruction of US forests, in the name of fighting climate change. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt decreed that burning wood for energy will be treated as “carbon neutral,” meaning that it adds no CO2 to the atmosphere and falls into the same category of energy sources as solar and wind. EPA justifies this action by citing compliance with a 2018 Congressional act that directed EPA and other Federal agencies “to establish policies that reflect the carbon neutrality of forest biomass for energy production.” Problem is, it ain’t so. Here are the facts about “forest bioenergy:”

Burning wood to generate energy puts more CO2 into the atmosphere than burning fossil fuels to create the same amount of energy, because wood has a lower energy density. Under ideal conditions, most of that CO2 can eventually be reclaimed, if the forest is allowed to regrow. That takes decades, however, during which atmospheric CO2 is higher than it would be otherwise. This creates harms from climate change, including some that are irreversible, like ice-sheet melt and permafrost thaw. But emissions from burning wood are only partially reclaimed by forest regrowth, because: •

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harvesting trees results in release of CO2 from soils, which continues for decades;

burning natural hardwood forest and replacing with fastgrowing forest plantations (a common practice), permanently elevates atmospheric CO2 because plantations don’t store as much carbon as natural forests;

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cutting and processing wood uses energy, which generally results in CO2 emissions.

And of course, there’s no requirement that forests be permitted to regrow. If they aren’t, climate change is permanently worsened. If all of this sounds a bit complicated, it can be, and in fact the climate effects of burning wood vary a lot depending on location, forest type, management practices, and so on. That underscores how silly it is for the EPA or Congress to make blanket decrees about matters of science, especially those that are complex.

Despite all of this, one might reasonably ask, “Isn’t burning wood better than fossil fuels?” It can be, but that’s not the right question, because being better than fossil fuels isn’t nearly good enough. To meet any reasonable climate goal we need to stop adding CO2 to the atmosphere as rapidly as possible, and simultaneously undertake land management practices that remove CO2 from the atmosphere. This is about more than politicians stepping on the toes of scientists by invading their turf. Treating the burning of wood as carbon neutral when it isn’t creates terrible incentives,

BURNING WOOD continued on next page

WHRC is an independent research institute where scientists investigate the causes and effects of climate change to identify and implement opportunities for conservation, restoration and economic development around the world. In June 2017, WHRC was ranked as the top independent climate change think tank in the world for the fourth year in a row. Learn more at www.whrc.org.

Forest monitoring workshops for Amazon land managers and policymakers underway By Zander Nassikas The Amazon is the largest tropical forest in the world, and the vast amount of carbon that it stores is crucial for keeping global temperature change under 2°C. WHRC launched a series of forest monitoring workshops in South America this month, designed to help land managers, indigenous leaders, technicians, and policymakers use the latest climate science for better decision-making.

BURNING WOOD continued from front by allowing biomass energy plants to get credit for making climate change better when they are actually making it worse. The European Union is doing this wholesale, by burning wood pellets imported from the southeastern United States. This is decimating forests in that region, and industry claims to the contrary have been thoroughly debunked by photographic and other evidence. Burning wood may seem like a reasonable climate strategy, but it isn’t. Starting with George Woodwell, WHRC scientists have not only documented the contribution of forest loss to climate change, but also shown that restoring forests and other natural systems is essential to its solution.

Thanks as always for your interest and support.

The blend of technical and non-technical participants makes these workshops unusual, according to the WHRC scientists who are leading the project. Capacity building traditionally targets technical experts and does not necessarily engage a broader audience. “These trainings have been designed to teach climate and biomass data interpretation to participants from a broad range of backgrounds,” said WHRC’s Dr. Alicia Peduzzi. “They can use our data for more informed natural resource management and policymaking with regards to Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories in the Amazon Basin.”

The first workshop was held from April 2-4 in Quito, Ecuador, and a second one in Brasilia, Brazil, two weeks later. Two additional workshops are planned for May (Colombia) and June (Peru). The final workshop will take place at a remote research station on the eastern slope of the Andes, the headwaters of the Amazon River, and among the most biologically diverse regions of the planet. Its proximity to two indigenous communities, the Wachiperi and Machiguenga, serves as a stark reminder that conservation of the Amazon is as much about securing the livelihoods of the indigenous peoples who live there as it is about carbon, biodiversity, and climate.

These workshops teach participants how to interpret and to apply two cuttingedge data products developed by WHRC scientists: a Carbon Monitoring System and a new web platform that facilitates interaction and analysis of climate data. The monitoring system was developed by Drs. Alessandro Baccini and

Wayne Walker to measure and monitor forest biomass at high-resolution around the world. The interactive online portal was developed by Drs. Michael Coe, Marcia Macedo, Paulo Brando, and Andrea Castanho to help forest managers in the Amazon Basin anticipate and prepare for climate change impacts like drought, changing fire regimes, and a shrinking growing season. “This climate portal makes it possible to access complex scientific data on precipitation, dryness, biomass, and other relevant climate data to create simple yet powerful interactive figures and reports,” Castanho said. “Our workshops have shown us that the portal quickly stimulates curiosity and provides the knowledge required to better conserve and manage protected areas and indigenous lands in a time of change.”

The impacts of climate change on the largest rainforest system in the world resonate globally. Improving the flow and use of the latest science for conservation decision-making in the Amazon can have an outsized impact both in terms of stabilizing the climate and, because of the region’s visibility, inspiring similar efforts in other vital ecosystems and economies. “When it comes to conserving Amazon forests, we are no longer limited by the availability of scientific data,” Macedo said. “What we need now is new mechanisms to facilitate communication between climate scientists and forest managers on the ground. These workshops will help kickstart that dialogue and make WHRC’s data platforms more responsive to user needs. Macedo noted that although support from the Moore Foundation’s AndesAmazon Initiative is ending, “we’ve started what we hope will be an ongoing conversation among a diverse network of Amazonian people and institutions. By improving the flow of information, we hope to support that collective wisdom in developing effective climate adaptation strategies for the Amazon.”

Mangroves punch above their weight as a natural climate solution By Zander Nassikas

The most detailed study to date of the soil carbon stored in mangrove forests has revealed that these soils hold more than 6.4 billion tons of carbon globally, according to a new paper in Environmental Research Letters. That is about 4.5 times the amount of carbon emitted by the U.S. economy in one year packed into less than 0.01% of Earth’s land surface.

More than 90 percent of the total carbon stock in mangrove forests can be stored in the soil. The study used 30-meter resolution remote sensing data to show that mangrove forest destruction caused as much as 122 million tons of carbon to be released to the atmosphere between 2000 and 2015. The paper also found that more than 75 percent of those soil carbon emissions were attributable to mangrove deforestation in Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar.

“Effective action on climate change will require a combination of emissions reductions and atmospheric carbon removals,” said WHRC’s Dr. Jonathan Sanderman, the lead author on the paper. More than 20 co-authors contributed to the work. “Protecting, enhancing and restoring natural carbon sinks must become political priorities. Mangrove forests can play an important role in carbon removals because they are among the most carbon-dense ecosystems in the world, and if kept undisturbed, mangrove forest soils act as long-term carbon sinks.” Direct measurements of mangrove soil carbon storage have only been made in about one third of the more than 100 nations that contain mangrove forests. To fill this measurement void, the researchers developed a machine learning-based model to predict soil carbon storage based upon climatic, vegetation, topographic and hydrologic properties that can be inferred from

satellite data. Using this model, they could then estimate the carbon storage within any mangrove forest in the world.

The researchers overlaid remotelysensed deforestation maps onto the baseline map of soil carbon to estimate loss of soil carbon due to loss of mangrove habitat. This analysis found that between 30 and 122 million tons of mangrove forest soil carbon was lost between 2000 and 2015.

WHRC’s senior geospatial analyst Greg Fiske developed the maps for the project, including an online interactive map showing carbon storage in 2000 for the upper meter of soil. Fiske also quantified mangrove soil carbon by political boundaries, producing maps that are being made freely available to help government officials prioritize mangrove protection as part of their climate mitigation and adaptation plans. “Halting the loss of further mangrove habitat and restoration of lost habitat will not solve climate change alone,” Dr. Sanderman said. “But for many nations, including most small island nations, mangrove protection and restoration represent one of the most viable climate mitigation options.”

News Briefs Dr. Jennifer Watts hosted a “High latitude carbon workshop” at WHRC on April 16 and 17, featuring NASA Goddard Space Flight Center scientist Ben Poulter and NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Clayton Elder. The workshop focused on the state of arctic carbon science and in particular, ongoing and future work related to arctic methane emissions. WHRC Research Assistant Hillary Sullivan presented on April 27 at the New England Estuarine Research Society about her isotope addition experiment at the Plum Island Estuary. Dr. Rich Birdsey presented a seminar at the University of Maine on April 25 titled “State of the Carbon Cycle of North America: Past, Present, and Future.” This was part of the ongoing Barbara Wheatland Seminar Series.

Three post-doctoral researchers from Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazônia (IPAM) in Brazil, Dr. Nubia Marques, Dr. Paulo Ilha, and Dr. Lucas N. Paolucci, spent two weeks at the Woods Hole Research Center researching threats to Amazon’s biodiversity.

New forest bioenergy study refutes Pruitt’s carbon neutrality declaration By Dave McGlinchey

This week, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced new federal regulations that declared burning forest biomass to generate electricity to be carbon neutral – on par with wind and solar energy generation. Two days after those EPA regulations were issued, however, WHRC scientists released a paper confirming the scientific understanding that woody biomass energy is, in fact, not carbon neutral.

Proponents of biomass energy argue that when a tree is burned to generate electricity, a new one can be planted to recapture the carbon. In recent years, however, scientists have examined that premise and determined that soil carbon losses, and emissions from processing undermine the carbon neutrality argument. When a tree is replanted, it must also reach maturity before the carbon is recaptured – leaving excess CO2 in the atmosphere for decades. If that replanted tree is harvested early, or if it dies from drought, fire, or pests, the excess CO2 remains in the atmosphere. “The idea of carbon neutrality is really dead now from a science perspective,” said WHRC’s Dr. Rich Birdsey, the lead author of the paper in Environmental Research Letters. “This just adds to the pile of literature that has been out there, saying that for quite a few years now.”

Staff Picks!

WHRC President Dr. Phil Duffy and Senior Scientist Dr. Richard Houghton were coauthors on the paper.

Below is a collection of books our staff members highlighted as generating important insight into their work, the world around them, or both. MapHead by Ken Jennings is a great read that systematically breaks down the components of today’s map culture. If you’ve ever ogled a map, and wondered what the attraction is, you’ll want to check this book out. - Chief Geospatial Analyst Greg Fiske

Brave New Arctic: The Untold Story of the Frozen North by Mark Serreze gives an engaging insider’s view of the struggle to understand the causes of the observed changes in the Arctic, describing how he and the broader research community came to recognize that these profound changes are a result of human impacts on the climate.” - Senior Scientist Dr. Max Holmes

“Increasing bioenergy production and pellet exports often increase net emissions of [greenhouse gas emissions] for decades or longer, depending on source of feedstock and its alternate fate, time horizon of analysis, energy emissions associated with the supply chain and fuel substitution, and impacts on carbon cycling of forest ecosystems,” according to the paper. Birdsey said that blanket regulations like this latest EPA announcement ignore the detailed analysis that is needed in each situation.

“Regulations should be based on science,” Birdsey said. “You just have to do the math. In each situation, determine whether it is good for the climate. Sometimes it is good. Most times it is not. There are only some rather specific circumstances where a benefit will accrue.”

He said also that there are non-climate considerations for biomass energy, including economic development. But he objected to the use of climate as a justification when the science did not support such an assertion. “You have to think about all those things, climate is just one of the factors,” Birdsey said. “Just don’t claim it’s a great benefit for climate without doing some analysis.”

Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson broke down complex concepts like dark matter and dark energy into a more understandable format. The concepts don’t seem as esoteric as they did before I read the book, so that was exciting. - Research Assistant Lindsay Scott

Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe, Vol. I by Alexander Von Humboldt I was so stricken by this passage: “Man can not act upon nature, or appropriate her forces to his own use, without comprehending their full extent, and having an intimate acquaintance with the laws of the physical world.” This is exactly what drives my research – understanding the natural world and the consequences of their appropriation for the physical world (climate change). - Assistant Scientist Dr. Paulo Brando

What is the value of an intact forest? International coalition launches effort to find out By Dave McGlinchey

Researchers from around the world gathered this month in Springbrook National Park, in Queensland, Australia, to jumpstart an international research project on the value of primary forests, which is designed to inform national and international conservation policies.

Australia’s Griffith University is driving the project forward, and convened the Queensland gathering. WHRC scientists are contributing research on primary forests in Central Africa and in boreal regions. Primary forests are those still dominated by natural processes, where industrial land use has yet to have an impact. “Primary forests are so important because they provide maximum ecosystem benefits to humans and nature,” said WHRC’s Dr. Glenn Bush, who leads the Center’s work in Central Africa. “They store more carbon than do logged and degraded forests and they are critical for biodiversity conservation, with up to 57 percent of tropical forest species dependent on old-growth forest habitat.”

WHRC will provide a case study from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, building on the years of research and outreach conducted by the Center’s Projet Equateur. The case study focuses on opportunities to connect forest policy theory at the national level and forest management practice at the decentralized jurisdictional level. Currently, WHRC scientists are working L-R: Virginia Young, Australian Wilderness Society; WHRC’s closely with the provincial Glenn Bush; Chris Fleming, Griffith University governments and the national Ministry of Environment to prepare a low Bush said that the ultimate goal of these projects is to inform climate change emission development strategy. mitigation policies. WHRC’s Dr. Brendan Rogers will contribute research on primary forests “In the face of a rapidly changing climate, in boreal regions. Rogers will lead a case large blocks of primary forest—intact study in Russia, looking at the historical, forest landscapes—are highly resilient,” emerging and future threats for Siberia’s Bush said. “They provide maximum primary forests and the ecosystems natural adaptive capacity, so weighing they provide. According to Rogers, those up all these benefits, protecting primary threats are primarily wildfires and forests is now an important and cost logging. effective climate mitigation action.”

Upcoming community lecture & WHRC in the news Community Lecture on May 10, 5:30 pm Dr. Paulo Moutinho presents Bicycling Across the Amazon In 2017, Paulo Moutinho (the scientist), Osvaldo Stella (the engineer), and Chris Cassidy (an American astronaut) took to the road to cross the Amazon Rainforest by bicycle. Seating is limited. Registration is highly recommended. whrc.org/bicycling-across-the-amazon Earth Day beach clean-up and film screening. WHRC’s joint Earth Day event with The 300 Committee was mentioned in a Falmouth Enterprise article. April 20. http://bit.ly/2Hy6hgU

How big forests solve global problems. WHRC’s Vice President of the Board, Dr. Thomas Lovejoy, co-authored an op-ed about the importance of intact forests in the New York Times. April 19. http://nyti.ms/2HMe77y Brazil’s actual forest-related CO2 emissions could blow by Paris pledge. Dr. Marcia Macedo’s work on land use emissions in Brazil’s agricultural frontier was featured in a Mongabay article. April 19. http://bit.ly/2HSJuQq

Decoding the weather machine. Dr. John Holdren was interviewed for and featured in a two-hour NOVA show on climate change that aired on PBS. April 18. http://to.pbs. org/2vpe8fc

Retreating arctic ice has shifted shipping routes 180 miles closer to the north pole. Greg Fiske’s collaborative work with The Fletcher School at Tufts University to map and analyze changes in arctic shipping was featured in Pacific Standard. April 17. http://bit.ly/2HyiXIQ Maritime traffic in a thawing arctic. Greg Fiske and his work to map and analyze arctic shipping was described in a Maritime Herald article. April 16. http://bit.ly/2HuN9o6

Scientists and clergy join to address climate change. WHRC President Dr. Phil Duffy was quoted in a Falmouth Enterprise article on a new initiative to bring scientists and interfaith leaders together to address climate change. April 13. http://bit. ly/2HzbW6i

Shipping responds to Arctic sea ice decline. NASA’s Earth Observatory featured Greg Fiske’s analysis and map of decreasing Arctic sea ice and the corresponding increase in shipping. April 12. http://go.nasa.gov/2qsrQIj

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The world's forests store a huge amount of carbon, and we can't stop climate change without them. Lighter and brighter blues indicate higher-density forest, and therefore higher-density carbon. Through our Carbon Monitoring System, we can detect the loss of carbon from deforestation and degradation at high-resolution. We can also measure and monitor carbon sequestration as forests recover, a critical component to achieving the climate targets of many nations. // Map rendered by Greg Fiske