Wildfires rage in California forests

 Reuters:

Carbon offsets generated from forests to counteract future climate-warming emissions from California's big polluters are rapidly being depleted as trees are ravaged by wildfire and disease, new research published on Friday suggests.

One of California's key policy tools to combat climate change may be falling far short of its goals, the researchers said - raising questions about similar carbon offset programs around the world.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, was conducted by CarbonPlan, a San Francisco-based non-profit that researches the integrity of programs designed to offset carbon emissions. The group's research has questioned the value of the California forest carbon offset program in fighting climate change in the past.
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The researchers also projected potential losses associated with the disease sudden oak death, which has killed millions of trees in California and Oregon in the last two decades. Widespread tree mortality due to sudden oak death could wipe out all the credits set aside for disease and insect risks to offset projects, the study estimated.
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They would be better served to turn these forests into lumber and furniture.  At least they would be producing something of value out of them while preventing fires and pestilence.

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