Treeless suburbs fail carbon storage targets; removal plans may impact high UTC suburbs' successes; Canberra, Australia

Naked suburbs fail on carbon - Local News - News - General - The Canberra Times
Naked suburbs fail on carbon
BY ROSSLYN BEEBY, SCIENCE AND ENVIRONMENT REPORTER
27/07/2009 6:55:00 AM
Canberra's new suburbs are so devoid of trees and green spaces that most will struggle to store even one tonne of carbon a hectare by 2015, according to a new report.
While the leafy, tree-lined streets of older suburbs such as Yarralumla, Griffith and Deakin are estimated to soak up 22tonnes of carbon a hectare, the city's newer suburbs those built in the last 20 years average only 0.1 tonnes.
However, these older suburbs are earmarked to lose hundreds of street trees as part of an ACT program to overhaul the city's urban forest.
Despite being marketed as a suburb with purpose-built green credentials, Forde's trees and grasslands will sequester less than 0.4tonnes of carbon per hectare by 2015.