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How is turning boreal peat forests into palm oil plantations equal to capital extraction? Isn't it the exact opposite in that land of less value has been turned
by merpnderp 11y ago
How is turning boreal peat forests into palm oil plantations equal to capital extraction? Isn't it the exact opposite in that land of less value has been turned into land of more value? I think I'm missing something here.
- philipn 11y agoSorry, I meant to say peat swamps, not boreal forests. Regarding peat swamps, they are less valuable in that the land isn't being farmed. Transformation of "unvaluable and useless" peat swamps to productive oil palm plantations often, but not always, involves altering the water table of the forest, which causes a massive increase in CO2 (peat is an incredible carbon sink) as well as widespread fires. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/peat-and-repeat-rewetting-carbon-sinks/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/peat-and-repeat-re... http://www.dw.de/peat-forests-pose-major-climate-threat/a-5207388 http://www.dw.de/peat-forests-pose-major-climate-threat/a-52... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian_haze https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asian_haze
- merpnderp 11y agoSeems like the easiest solution is to make the land valuable in its current form. In the US there's a federal program to control the amount of wheat produced by paying farmers to let their wheat fields lie fallow. I assume though that a palm oil plantation is quite a bit more valuable than a wheat field.....
- littletimmy 11y agoYes. You're missing the chapter in your economics textbook titled "externalities".