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Other Benefits and Costs
Reforestation can have many other positive benefits, including
enhanced biodiversity, wildlife, air and water quality, aesthetics,
forest products, and recreational opportunities. Reforestation can
also raise environmental concerns, and there is some apprehension
about the implications if planting were to occur as broad expanses
of monocultural plantations.
Research and Development
A recent National Research Council (1990) report entitled
Forestry Research: A Mandate for Change provides a number of
research recommendations relative to societal concerns regarding
the relationship of forests and climate, biological diversity loss,
forest product demand, "pristine" forest area demand, sustainable
wood production in conjunction with environmental protection, and
maintenance of forest health. The NRC Forestry Research Committee
(1990) recommends
• improving understanding of the basic biology and ecology
of forests,
• developing information to sustain productivity of forests
as well as to protect their inherent biological diversity, and
• understanding the economic and policymaking processes
that affect the fate of forests.
Conclusions
Reforestation has the potential to offset a large amount of
CO2 emissions but at a cost that
increases as the amount of offset increases. This analysis
recognizes the large land resource required and adopts a
conservative approach with respect to the U.S. Forest Service
analysis of the amount of carbon that might be sequestered. It also
recognizes that forests will mature and that reforestation is thus
an interim approach to the long-term concerns of greenhouse
warming. In addition, if a forest is harvested, the only true
CO2 offset is the amount of carbon
stored in soil, roots, and as lumber or other long-lived products.
Furthermore, there is some apprehension about the implications for
biodiversity if planting were to occur as broad expanses of
monocultural plantations. Overall, however, reforestation seems to
provide a method of storing carbon with little adverse societal
impact and a number of benefits.
Increasing Ocean Absorption of Carbon
Dioxide
The Approach
The oceans already play an enormous role in establishing
planetary climate, both through the transport of heat and supply of
water vapor and
