Columbus , Ohio -- The increasing number of pine plantations in the southern United States could contribute to a rise in carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, a new study reports.

This is important because carbon dioxide is a key greenhouse gas, one that is linked to global warming.

Landowners in the South are turning stands of hardwood and natural pine trees into pine plantations because pine is a more lucrative source of lumber.

But pine plantations don't retain carbon as well as hardwood or natural pine forests, said Brent Sohngen, a study co-author and an associate professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State University.

"For environmental reasons, policy makers may want to develop policies that encourage the establishment or maintenance of hardwood forests to ensure diversity across the landscape," Sohngen said.

Sohngen examined the issues with Sandra Brown, an ecologist with Winrock International, a non-profit organization based in Arlington , Va. Together, the two developed a statistical model, based on the economic value of the land, to predict how many acres of hardwood and natural pine forests would be converted to pine plantations over the next 30 years. They also calculated what this potential conversion would mean in terms of carbon dioxide emissions.

The results appear in a recent issue of the journal Ecological Economics.

The researchers estimate that some 10 million acres roughly the size of New Hampshire and Vermont of mainly hardwood and natural pine forests will be chopped down to make way for pine plantations by 2030 in just three Southern states. That translates into roughly 700,000 tons more carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere annually, or 21 million tons over the 30-year period.

That number may seem like a drop in the bucket compared to the 3 billion tons of carbon the United States emits annually. But Sohngen is
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Contact: Brent Sohngen
Sohngen.1@osu.edu
614-688-4640
Ohio State University
24-Jul-2006