Controversies and Misconceptions related to Forest Carbon Storage and the Policy of Forest Bioenergy and Sustainability

Abstract

The present commentary elaborates on the question whether the sequestration of carbon in forests can be interpreted as a renewable form of energy. Serious concerns have been raised regarding this classification of forest wood among the alternatives for fossil carbon reserves. The hypothesis of (Zhao et al. 2022), namely that taller forests (as a volumetric measure) procure a larger C-sequestration (storage) to the planet’s biosphere, not only is extrapolated to all latitudes. Moreover, a number of 10 misconceptions is envisaged and critically answered, that are well-known from discourses of deforestation lobbyists. Finally, a case study is presented of the impact of deforestation and landscape reforms on bird biodiversity in the Netherlands, measured using a newly developed quick-scan for bird diversity in European temperate regions. It is observed that with broadening and increasing the impact of the political decision making process, the risk of generating bigger ecological mistakes may increase too.