Carbon Protocols Recognize Value of Working Forests
New standards could encourage private forestland owners to sequester additional carbon

Sacramento Calif., Sept. 24 – The California Air Resources Board today recognized that active management on the state’s privately owned forestlands could provide significant climate-related benefits and adopted the Forest Project Protocol as proposed by the Climate Action Reserve, a national offsets program working to ensure integrity, transparency and financial value in the U.S. carbon market. The protocol could form the foundation for participation in emerging carbon trading markets.

“We are pleased that the protocols recognize the value of forest management in addressing climate change and encouraged that they may provide sufficient incentives to allow California’s private forestland owners to participate in carbon-trading markets,” says David Bischel, California Forestry Association (CFA) president. “These protocols are the result of collaborative effort and have the support of a strong coalition of conservation and business organizations.”

CFA has been working closely with the Climate Action Reserve (CAR) to revise the protocols as a member of CAR’s Forest Workgroup since the Air Resources Board adopted its initial protocols in October, 2007. The protocols set accounting standards for tracking carbon removed from the atmosphere and stored in forests and wood products. The protocols ensure that only carbon sequestered above and beyond what would have occurred without the protocol-driven projects becomes eligible of participation in developing cap-and-trade carbon markets.

“The new protocols remove barriers that had prevented private forestland owners from participating in voluntary carbon markets,” says Bischel. “They provide assurances for ‘permanence’ and clear rules of engagement that could lead to millions of tons of additional carbon being stored in our forestlands and wood products. This is a strong statement regarding the value of keeping working forests as working forests. Managed forests are perhaps the most efficient scrubbers of greenhouse gases anywhere, and ARB’s action is an important step toward applying those resources to lower our carbon footprint.”

Bischel also noted that of the 165 economic sectors the Air Resources Board identified in California, the forest sector is the only one identified as a net sequesterer of carbon. All others are net emitters. Healthy, well-managed forests clean the air and act as “carbon sinks,” removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, storing the carbon and releasing oxygen.

“The Air Resource Board under the leadership of chair Mary Nichols has done a commendable job in developing protocols that should encourage sustainable forestry and lead to significant increases of carbon sequestration,” Bischel says. “A wide range of opinions and a great deal of science is represented effectively in these protocols. The end result could bring a valuable asset, the state’s working forests, into the forefront of addressing climate change. Science shows that forest management can increase carbon sequestration while conserving forest resources from soils to water and wildlife habitat and the new protocols reflect that science.”

The California Forestry Association represents professionals committed to sustainable forestry and the protection of the state’s natural resources.CFA is committed to keeping the public informed on issues surrounding efforts to keep California forests healthy and well-managed for water, wildlife, wildfire protection and climate change benefit.

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