Great Western Woodlands holds key to carbon storage
Great Western Woodlands holds key to carbon storage
13 August 2008
published by www.abc.net.au
Australia — A 16-million hectare block of Western Australian wilderness could hold the key to sequestering the nation’s carbon.
The Great Western Woodlands runs along the far eastern section of the wheatbelt and into the goldfields, and across the western side of the Nullarbor Plain.
It’s the world’s largest remaining untouched temperate woodland, and is said to store almost double the nation’s annual carbon emissions.
The Wilderness Society is calling for the region to be protected from the effects of climate change, including more bushfires caused by higher temperatures.
The society’s outback conservation manager, Alexander Watson, says a government investment of $10 million would be enough.
He says international philanthopical groups, including the Pew Environmental Group from the USA, as well as local mining companies, are also interested in giving the area more bushfire protection.