Why did Canada not include forest management in its Kyoto accounting?
The results of the analysis (see previous question) indicated that there was a greater than nine in ten chance that Canada’s managed forest would be a source of greenhouse gases in the period 2008–12. Although these forests have usually been a sink in the past, predictions for the near future indicate diminishing strength as a sink due to the impacts of wildfire, insect outbreaks (such as mountain pine beetle in western Canada and anticipated outbreaks of spruce budworm in eastern Canada), and increased salvage logging as a result of these disturbances. As well, Canada’s managed forest is fairly old and its uptake of carbon is therefore less than that of a younger forest. Many of these factors are beyond the direct control of forest managers—for example, it is impossible to try to fight all forest fires in the managed forest; some fires and some insect infestations cannot be kept in check no matter what resources are directed toward fighting them. Thus, the projected high risk of the m
