that according to a study carried out by the , the increased forest logging in Europe could
completely wipe out its carbon sink. Carbon sinks refer to natural
systems such as trees, soil, plants that absorb CO2 from the
atmosphere. Since carbon sinks help offset carbon emissions, they can
be used by countries to meet their emission targets under the .
The study states that the carbon sequestration capacity of European forests has
increased by seventy per cent since the 1950s. However, the European Union’s
bioenergy production targets call for increased logging which in turn
will significantly reduce or even wipe out its carbon sink. Moreover, the capacity of new trees to store carbon has gone down considerably to about 40 tonnes per hectare, in comparision to old forests that can store 100 to 240 tonnes of carbon per hectare. As such, the efficacy of the carbon sink will preserved only if the logging rate is far lower than the growth rate.
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