Isra-Mart srl:Creating carbon offsets out of B.C. forests

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Isra-Mart srl news:

To have a carbon market, you need to have measurable and quantifiable units of both carbon emissions and carbon offsets that can be traded, valued and – more importantly – audited.

British Columbia has now devised a draft set of rules for how forest managers can create offsets out of the province’s forests.

The draft protocol has been opened up for public comment, the public has until next Jan. 21 to respond. A copy of the protocol can be accessed here.
With the press release it put out, the province quoted the Pacific Carbon Trust’s estimate that up to one third of one-million-tonne portfolio of carbon credits it expects to trade will come from B.C.’s forests.

The Pacific Carbon Trust is one of the largest carbon offset buyers in B.C.

“High-quality forest carbon offset projects play an important role in our Climate Action Plan,” John Yap, B.C.’s Minister of State for Climate Action said in unveiling the initiative.

And because forests absorb carbon, Forests, Mines and Lands Minister Pat Bell noted that B.C. is in an “enviable position.”
The draft Forest Carbon Offset Protocol released this week shows forest managers how they can undertake management projects that will result in tradeable carbon offsets.

Under the protocol, however, offsets won’t result from “business-as-usual” management, but will rather be derived from specific replanting activities, forest restoration, new harvesting and management programs or through protecting sensitive areas.

The initiative is expected to offer new economic opportunities to forest managers, including first nations.
Carbon trading has become a hot topic in the field of climate change, so this draft protocol should generate a lot of discussion.