A Digest of Boreal News from the Taiga Rescue Network
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Trees in far north provide biggest climate benefit

Champions of carbon offsetting may have been barking up the wrong tree. It is generally assumed that the tropics are the best place to plant forests in order to sequester carbon and cool the planet, but a study of the effects of tree planting is casting doubt on this idea. To maximise climate benefits we should be planting trees at higher latitudes, the study suggests.
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20427343.900-trees-in-far-north-provide-biggest-climate-benefit.html


The Carbon that the World Forgot - A New Raport Calls for Global Climate Talks to Consider Boreal's Impact

Boreal forests store more carbon than any other terrestrial ecosystem on earth - twice as much per area as tropical forests. Past estimates of this carbon greatly underestimated the amount, depth, and longevity of this carbon. As the most intact remaining forest on earth, the boreal forest also has exceptionally high potential to accommodate plants and animals forced to shift due to climate change.
http://www.borealbirds.org/carbonreport.shtml


Canada sets aside its boreal forest as giant carbon vault

By banning logging, mining and oil drilling in an area twice the size of California, Canada is ensuring its boreal forests continue to soak up carbon. In a series of initiatives, Canadian provincial governments and aboriginal leaders have set aside vast tracts of coniferous woods, wetlands, and peat. The conservation drive bans logging, mining, and oil drilling on some 250m acres - an area more than twice the size of California.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/oct/29/canada-boreal-forest-carbon-vault


UPM has renewed its pulp sourcing strategy

UPM will increase the share of plantation based eucalyptus pulp from Uruguay in the paper production of its Changshu paper mill in China. Consequently, at the end of October, UPM decided to terminate its pulp purchase contract with APRIL.
http://w3.upm-kymmene.com/upm/internet/cms/upmcms.nsf/prv/UPM_has_renewed_its_pulp_sourcing_strategy?OpenDocument


Agreement saves 35 000 hectares of intact forest in Lapland

Greenpeace has reached an agreement on eight high conservation value forests with Metsähallitus and several other stakeholders in Lapland on October 27, 2009 after two months of negotiations. The agreement leaves permanently 35 000 hectares of forests outside of forestry in the municipalities of Kittilä, Sodankylä, Savukoski and Salla.
http://www.greenpeace.org/finland/fi/uutiset/agreement-saves-35-000-hectare