Forest Carbon has new free online tool

Tuesday, 24 August 2010, 1:32 pm Press Release: EITG

Forest Carbon can now be assessed using a FREE on line tool

EITG has released a new on line tool that allows owners of post 1989 or Kyoto Forest under the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme quickly assess the amount of NZU units they would receive if they entered into the ETS.

EITG Director Richard Hayes stated “this simple tool provides forest owners a way of estimating the number of carbon credits or NZU units they will receive if they enter the ETS. It is a straightforward matter of entering area, age class, species and location and we email back an estimate of NZU that would be issued” he said. The service is FREE.

Gazprom Wins Approval From Voluntary Standards Group for Forestry Credits

By Catherine Airlie - Aug 23, 2010 9:53 AM PT

Gazprom Marketing & Trading, a unit of the world’s largest natural-gas producer, said its method for generating carbon credits from forestry projects was approved by the Voluntary Carbon Standard.

The International Emissions Trading Association and the World Economic Forum helped develop the voluntary carbon standard in 2005 to verify which credits companies can use to comply with carbon-reduction programs. The European Union, which runs the world’s biggest emissions market, may accept a limited number of forestry credits through 2020.

Policy-makers are working on ways to create carbon credits for projects tied to reducing emissions from forest degradation, believed to be one of the main contributors to climate change. So-called REDD credits, excluded from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, will be on the agenda in December when about 190 nations meet in Cancun to discuss extending or replacing the international climate treaty.

“The approval of a methodology like this has real potential to be a game-changer in forest conservation,” Keith Martin, commercial director of Kingston, England-based Gazprom Marketing & Trading, said today in an e-mailed statement. “The gauntlet is thrown down to the negotiators at Cancun.”

Removing trees, which absorb carbon dioxide, may account for as much as 20 percent of manmade greenhouse-gas emissions, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Challenge in Cancun

Gazprom’s method will produce REDD credits in the Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve in Borneo, southeast Asia. The area is made up of 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of tropical peat swamp forest and wetlands next to an area of expanding plantations, according to Gazprom’s statement.

The project will create as many as 75 million metric tons of emission reduction credits over the next 30 years, Dan Barry, Gazprom’s director of global carbon trading, said today in an e- mail response to questions. They could be valued at as much as 600 million pounds ($932 million) at today’s price for United Nations offsets, or Certified Emissions Reductions.

“The Rimba Raya carbon credits, however, are likely to trade at a discount to the ones that are eligible for the UN schemes at the moment due to the nature of the voluntary market,” Barry said. Prices would rise if forestry credits are accepted internationally as a way of curbing emissions.

Brazil, Indonesia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria may be the top producers of REDD credits, according to analysis from Barclays Capital. The four countries have generally supported a REDD-based mechanism and account for more than 900 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions annually as a result of cutting down trees. That’s about the same emissions spewed from 50 average-sized coal-fed power stations each year.

Gazprom and the New York-based Clinton Foundation funded the research of the methodology, which was developed by InfiniteEARTH and written by Winrock International. The proposal to curb emissions from forests was audited by the Rainforest Alliance and Bureau Veritas Certification.

To contact the reporter on this story: Catherine Airlie at cairlie@bloomberg.net

Road to Nowhere

Those observing the current state of federal climate policy in Australia – as judged by policies released by Julia Gillard’s Labor and Tony Abbott’s Liberals ahead of the 21 August federal election – might find themselves inadvertently humming Talking Heads’ 1985 song Road to Nowhere.

Meanwhile across the Tasman, New Zealand’s ETS has made a fairly ho-hum start with neither fanfare nor catastrophe. NZ’s largest power supplier, Contact

Energy, said in a statement that electricity price rises would not surge in double figures, as feared, but average residential energy prices would lift by around 3.2 per cent – less than the government’s estimate of 5 per cent.

Australia, of course, came very close to legislating for an economy-wide ETS under the Rudd Labor government – the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS) – but in the end the Abbott-Liberals’ “great big tax” scare campaign has seemingly killed the prospects of an ETS in Australia until 2013 at the earliest – assuming even then that Labor is returned to power on 21 August.

So where to for Australian climate policy?

We will again see Australian state governments taking action to fill the policy vacuum that has been left with the sinking of the CPRS – just as they did under the Howard government some years back. Already Victoria’s Labor Premier John Brumby has stolen the limelight in this regard by announcing some ambitious plans.

Yet while the prospects for an economy-wide ETS in Australia remain slim before 2013, a price of sorts on carbon will slowly emerge regardless of who wins the election. This won’t start out as the top-down, economy-wide price under an ETS, but more informal pricing in certain sectors in response to the mixed bag of federal policies to be put in place over the coming three years.

Labor has announced that all new coal generators would face tougher emissions standards and would have to be “carbon capture and storage ready”. This will require the adoption of best available technology, clawing back the competitive price advantage that traditional coal-fired generation has had over gas and renewable energy sources. There is also an expectation that Labor will soon announce the establishment of mandatory energy efficiency targets, potentially coupled with a tradeable energy efficiency certificate scheme.

Whilst Labor’s promise to reward early movers remains vague, it provides some hope that companies won’t sit on their hands in undertaking abatement until 2013. Perhaps

more ambitiously, the Abbot-Liberal “direct action” plan envisages a fund that will support businesses and industries that reduce emissions below a historic baseline

– by buying abatement with government revenues at a competitive tender price.

With sustained public support for action on climate change, pricing of carbon in the voluntary market will push on. Here, we will see renewed demands from the sector to expand the National Carbon Offset Scheme (NCOS) to enable accreditation of forestry and other “CPRS covered sector” projects – NCOS currently only recognises non-Kyoto offsets on the assumption that Kyoto sectors would have been covered by the CPRS.

We can expect the greatest pressure on the government to move to price carbon to come from the business sector itself. According to the Energy Supply Association of Australia, investment in energy infrastructure is set to slump partly due to uncertainty over climate change policies. Only this week debt held against one of Australia’s most emissions-intensive coal generators, Loy Yang B in Victoria, has been downgraded by Standard & Poor’s to one step above junk because of carbon policy uncertainty.

Clearly neither Gillard’s citizens’ assembly on climate, nor Abbot’s army of environmental volunteers doing green projects across the country, will do anything to turn this investment uncertainty around. So expect then increased pressure on the next government from business – in particular the energy and finance sectors –to finally tackle this issue with a proper policy to price carbon. Even the Business Council of Australia has warned that unless investment in electricity generation is encouraged, then “we’re heading for real problems”. But hopefully not a on a road to nowhere.

Australia, Victoria, Forest Carbon Legislation

Australia
August 17 2010

In brief

• In the absence of a national Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, Victoria is launching a broad action plan to address climate change. The plan seeks to optimise Victoria's position in responding to the challenges and opportunities inherent in climate change.
• The White Paper includes a proposal to introduce a Climate Change Bill which will set a target of a 20% reduction in Victoria's emissions below 2000 levels by 2020.
• Businesses that emit greenhouse gases should familiarise themselves with the proposed amendments to the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic) and update their compliance programs.
• Investors in the renewable sector should consider the opportunities in solar energy projects and carbon sequestration projects supported by the White Paper and associated Climate Change Bill.

The Victorian Government has released a new White Paper on climate change entitled "Taking Action for Victoria's Future". The White Paper is a broad action plan, with 10 key policies. It demonstrates Victoria's intention to address climate change in the absence of a national emissions trading scheme.

The White Paper seeks to optimise Victoria's position in responding to the challenges and opportunities inherent in climate change. It sets Victoria ahead of the other States and Territories in terms of developing a relatively comprehensive legislative and policy response to climate change.

The White Paper indicates that the legislative changes proposed in the White Paper would be immediately reviewed if a national carbon price were introduced.

10 key policies

The Victorian Government released its Climate Change White Paper, outlining the State government's climate change policy, on 26 July 2010.

The White Paper sets out 10 key policies:

• legislating to cut Victoria's greenhouse pollution;
• moving towards a cleaner energy future;
• making Victoria the "solar State";
• supporting cleaner and more efficient homes;
• positioning Victoria to be a global leader in clean technology;
• creating new opportunities in agriculture, food and forestry;
• delivering innovative transport solutions;
• greening government;
• helping Victorians adapt to climate change; and
• strengthening our climate communities.

The essentials

The essential elements of the White Paper are:

• targets of:

  • cutting the State's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 20% below 2000 levels by 2020 (equivalent to a 40% reduction on a per-capita basis);

  • a target of reducing GHG emissions from coal fired power stations by 28 million tonnes from the brown coal-fired electricity sector by 2020 (equivalent to closing two units of Hazelwood power station); and
  • increasing Victoria's electricity supply from large scale solar power to approximately 5% by 2020 (approx 2500 GWh) through a large scale solar feed-in tariff;
• a commitment to no new approvals for new coal fired power stations based on conventional brown coal technologies;
• $30 million to further assist the development of a carbon capture and storage hub in the form of the CarbonNet project in the Gippsland basin;
• new powers for the Victorian Environment Protection Authority (EPA) to regulate GHG emissions from industry, through changes to the Environment Protection Act 1970 (Vic);
• a target emission level for proponents of new coal-fired power stations of 0.8 tonnes of C02e/MWh;
• the establishment of a Victorian Carbon Exchange, to allow the general public and businesses to voluntarily offset their emissions by purchasing Victorian-based offsets;
• a 20% improvement in the energy efficiency of government buildings by 2018, on top of the 5% improvement expected by the end of 2011;
• increasing government GreenPower purchases from the current level of 25% of electricity purchases to 30% by 2015 and 50% by 2020; and
• raising the energy efficiency of Victorian homes to an average of a 5 Star Energy Rating by 2020.

Many of these initiatives will be brought into effect through the proposed Climate Change Bill 2010, which was introduced into Parliament on 29 July 2010 (the Bill). The Bill would, according to the White Paper, be reviewed immediately if a national carbon price were introduced, and would be subject to a routine review after 2015.

A white paper implementation plan will be released later this year following further consultation with the community and industry.

Emissions targets, policy development and adaption planning

The Bill introduces a legislative GHG emissions target of reducing Victoria's GHG emissions by 20% below the amount of Victoria's emissions in 2000, by 2020. The Minister is required to report biannually on progress in meeting this target, as part of a climate change science and emissions report.

The Bill also sets out:

• climate change policy objectives that the government is to consider in making government policy;
• requires the formulation of a Climate Change Adaptation Plan every four years, and specifies guiding principles for that Plan.

These changes attempt to consciously place climate change considerations at the forefront of government decision making. It remains to be seen whether these changes will result in real changes to the decision making culture of the Victorian Government.

Changes to the Environment Protection Act (EP Act)

The Bill contains a number of significant amendments to the EP Act. The key changes are:

• new GHG definitions;
• new powers for the EPA to regulate GHG emissions and standards;
• establishment of a voluntary Victorian Carbon Exchange; and
• establishment of Climate Covenants and a Climate Communities Fund.

Definition of GHGs

The Bill inserts a definition of GHG substances into the EP Act. The definition corresponds to wording in the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Act 2007. It also amends the definition of "waste" to include GHG substances.

New powers to regulate GHG emissions

The Bill gives the EPA a major role in regulating, and encouraging action to reduce, GHG emissions. The Bill requires the EPA to consider climate change in developing policies, and in its decisions relating to works approvals and licences.

The EPA has a new power to develop regulations prohibiting or regulating GHG emissions and prescribing standards or conditions for their discharge.

The Minister has new powers to issue guidelines on how the EPA and other nominated decision-making entities are to take account of climate change in exercising their responsibilities.

Premier John Brumby has indicated that as a first step in exercising its new powers, the EPA would set an emissions intensity standard for new power stations (to give effect to the target set out in the White Paper of GHG emissions from new power stations of 0.8 tonnes per MWh). He also said the powers could be used for other purposes – such as setting standards for existing generators.

The Victorian Carbon Exchange

Changes to the EP Act will also provide for the establishment of the Victorian Carbon Exchange, to allow the general public and businesses to voluntarily offset their emissions by purchasing carbon offsets generated in Victoria. This is designed to create a market incentive (in the absence of the CPRS) for landholders and forest operators to create offsets through activities such as soil carbon sequestration, changed farming practices and new forest plantations.

The Exchange will also feature a voluntary vehicle registration offset program (motorists would pay an extra amount for carbon offsets when they register their vehicle, with the revenue directed to the Exchange).

Climate Covenants

Other changes to the EP Act would allow businesses to enter into voluntary Climate Covenants with the Premier and Minister – an approach modelled on the existing provisions for sustainability covenants.

Legislative recognition of carbon sequestration and soil carbon rights

Part 4 of the Bill prescribes a new regime dealing with carbon sequestered in forests, other vegetation and soils on both private and Crown land.

Forest carbon rights

The provisions applying to private land create "forest carbon rights", which are defined to include carbon sequestration rights, forestry rights and soil carbon rights.

Forest carbon rights are interests in land. These rights may created and transferred by the registered proprietor of the land, with the consent of any lessee. It is not possible for the land owner to create more than one kind of forest carbon right for any piece of land, because the Registrar of Titles is prohibited from registering more than one of each right.

Carbon sequestration rights

"Carbon sequestration rights" are exclusive rights to the economic benefits associated with carbon sequestered by vegetation, other than vegetation which has been harvested, lopped or felled. This does not include any rights to manage or access land (which are to be addressed in Forestry and Carbon Management Agreements – see below).

Forestry rights

"Forestry rights" are rights to plant, establish, manage and maintain vegetation on land and to take and deal with vegetation which has been harvested, felled or lopped and includes a right of entry for that purpose.

Soil carbon rights

"Soil carbon rights" are exclusive rights to the economic benefits of carbon sequestered underground, excluding carbon stored within plants. It does not include rights to manage or access land.

Forestry and Carbon Management Agreements

The Bill allows landowners to enter into Forestry and Carbon Management Agreements, with the owner of a forest carbon right (or any other .person). A Forestry and Carbon Management Agreement would impose management obligations in relation to carbon sequestration by vegetation or underground (such as preservation, enhancement or management of vegetation or soil).

The Bill also makes provision for financial securities to ensure compliance with an agreement.

Upon application by the landowner, these agreements can be recorded on the property title. Where it is recorded on the title it will run with the land and bind future owners.

Parties to the agreements can apply to VCAT to enforce the provisions of the agreement or to resolve disputes.

Crown land

The provisions dealing with carbon sequestration on Crown land allow the Government to declare specified land available for carbon sequestration and to invite expressions of interest to develop it for carbon sequestration purposes.

The Crown land provisions also provide for "Carbon Sequestration Agreements" between the Government and third parties. These can grant third parties carbon sequestration or soil carbon rights and provide access to Crown land to allow them to plant and maintain vegetation or "control and exploit" carbon sequestered within vegetation or soil.

The Bill allows the Government to require security as part of a Carbon Sequestration Agreement, including indemnities and insurance.

The Bill also sets out matters to which the Secretary must have regard in deciding whether or not to enter a Carbon Sequestration Agreement.

Opportunities for business

The White Paper is a sound attempt at responding to climate change in the absence of an emissions trading scheme, but remains a piece meal policy solution compared to the comprehensiveness of the CPRS. However, the raft of measures which Victoria proposes to introduce should create significant new opportunities for Victorian businesses in carbon sequestration, renewable energy (particularly solar) and energy efficiency.

Action points

• Victoria proposes to legislate a GHG target, and set climate change as a priority consideration in government policy and decision making.
• Greenhouse gas emitting businesses will be subject to increased regulation by the EPA, including enforcement action.
• The White Paper should create new opportunities for investment in carbon sequestration, including in forests and soil on private and Crown land, and in large and medium scale solar projects
  .

August 12, 2010 10:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Terra Global Capital’s VCS Mosaic REDD Methodology Completes the First Validation

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Developed by Terra Global Capital, LLC in partnership with Community Forestry International, the pioneering Mosaic REDD methodology submitted to the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) has completed the first of two required validations. The methodology, designed to support the development of a REDD project in the Oddar Meanchey province of northwestern Cambodia, was supported by the Cambodia Forestry Administration, Pact, and the Children’s Development Association, with validation funding provided by the Clinton Climate Initiative. The quantification of carbon credits from mosaic-type REDD projects as developed in the methodology present unique challenges. Mosaic REDD projects, by design, address situations where a complex set of deforestation drivers and agents interact. The methodology covers a broad set of applicability criteria and can be used for a number of REDD projects with deforestation drivers, including conversion of forest to farmland and settlements, logging, fuel wood collection, forest fires, economic land concessions and forest encroachment. “The methodology is expected to be broadly applicable where mosaic patterns of deforestation occur throughout Southeast Asia and Africa. The completion of this first validation after 18 months demonstrates the technical leadership and commitment of the Terra team and the methodology’s validator TÜV SÜD. The effort was worth it as it will reduce the development time for many REDD projects,” said Leslie Durschinger, Founder and Managing Director of Terra Global Capital.

Detailed in the methodology are the carbon accounting procedures for activities that avoid deforestation and forest degradation, and restore degraded forests. The baseline, or without-project scenario, is determined using a land-use change model that is calibrated based on data on historical land-use change in a reference region that has forest dynamics similar to the project area. Leakage, which refers to the displacement of deforestation outside of the project area, is accounted for using a combination of monitoring in a leakage belt surrounding the project areas, and a pre-determined discounting factor for leakage that occurs beyond the leakage belt. The methodology explicitly includes rigorous accuracy tests and discounting procedures that are designed to reward project participants who improve monitoring accuracy over time.

The methodology will be used to create the VCS Project Document for the Oddar Meanchey REDD project, which is being developed by Terra Global Capital, in collaboration with Pact and the Cambodian Forestry Administration. The project, which involves 13 Community Forestry Groups and 58 villages, is expected to protect nearly 70,000 hectares of forest and generate 7.1 million carbon credits over a thirty year period. In exchange for their commitment to conserve and enhance the forest carbon stock in the 13 community forests, members of those community forests receive the following: legal tenure to the land, at least 50% of net income from the sale of carbon credits, employment opportunities in the forest (monitoring, enforcement, restoration, fire brigades, etc.) and community safety (fire breaks, fire control, enhanced enforcement to prevent poaching and illegal logging). To recognize the exceptional co-benefits to communities and biodiversity, the project has also completed a Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Project Document and is expected to be the first dual VCS and CCB REDD project. The Oddar Meanchey REDD project will begin marketing credits shortly, which will be managed by Terra Global Capital, on behalf of the Cambodia Forestry Administration and the communities of Oddar Meanchey, with legal counsel from Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP.

AB32 - California - REDD

5 August 2010 | The winds of change are blowing across the climate change policy landscape. With legislation stalled in the US Senate, attention now shifts to state and regional initiatives. In California, the Global Warming Solutions Act, better known as AB32 and passed in 2006, establishes a statewide mandate for Greenhouse Gas (GHG) reductions, including participation in a regional cap and trade system.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) is the state agency responsible for implementing AB32, and it’s been busy readying the emissions trading framework set to take effect in 2012. On July 30, the ARB held a public workshop to discuss the role of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) in a California cap and trade system and offered glimpses of a new pathway to incentivize tropical forest conservation.

Read the full article here…..http://www.ecosystemmarketplace.com/pages/dynamic/article.page.php?page_id=7670&section=news_articles&eod=1

JOAS Not Involved In Deal With Australian Company

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 10 (Bernama) -- Indigenous Peoples Network of Malaysia (JOAS) said Tuesday that it was not involved in a forest carbon deal with an Australian carbon company.

Referring to a news report on Aug 6, "Australia firm signs forest CO2 deal with Malaysian Tribes", JOAS president Adrian Lasimbang said: "We will like to state that our network was not involved in this and to the best of our knowledge, we do not know which of the 24 villagers or nine community leaders are involved in that project."

According to the report, an Australian carbon services company had signed a deal with nine Malaysian tribal leaders to certify carbon offsets from a project aimed at preserving more than 100,000 hectares of tropical forest.

The deal, according to the report, would allow the tribes in Sarawak to earn a share of proceeds from the sale of carbon offsets to help them manage and protect the forest over a period of 20 years, with potential payment worth millions of dollars.

Adrian said that JOAS did not support the implementation of REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) in any form, unless the parties involved in the deal have adequate consultation and FPIC (free, prior informed consent).

"We feel it is important to make it clear that it was not our network that was involved in this deal as we strongly and consistently endorse a process of FPIC before signing any deal that involves our forests and territories," he said.

Adrian said the tribes were fully aware about a mandatory process and at the same time know that an independent workshop should be conducted to allow tribal communities to make their own decisions regarding communal forest.

"We hope that the company has at least ensured that the communities have access to their own lawyers who can independently advise them on the legal matters involved," he added.

Australia firm signs forest CO2 deal with Malaysia tribes

Friday, 06 August 2010 01:52

An Australian carbon services company has signed a deal with nine Malaysian tribal leaders to certify carbon offsets from a project aimed at preserving more than 100,000 hectares of tropical forest. The deal allows the tribes in Sarawak state on the island of Borneo to earn a share of the proceeds from the sale of carbon offsets to help them manage and protect the forest over a period of 20 years, payments potentially worth millions of dollars. Forests soak up large amounts of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas blamed for global warming, and preserving the remaining tropical forests in developing countries is seen as a key part of the fight against climate change. The project aims to improve the livelihoods of at least 10,000 people in 24 villages and is part of a U.N.-backed scheme called reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation. The United Nations hopes REDD will lead to a multi-billion dollar trade in forest carbon credits and the Malaysian project is one of several pioneering investments aimed at building up the REDD sector. REDD seeks to reward developing nations and indigenous forest owners with carbon credit payments to save their forests. There are about a dozen REDD projects in neighboring Indonesia. The firm, Shift2Neutral, said it will work with the tribes and a local NGO to help manage the forest, survey the area and access the carbon stored in the trees and soil. The project would be certified under an enhanced form of REDD that also aims to reward any enhancement to a forest's carbon stock. A long-term management plan would also be created and a committee of comprising tribal leaders, investors and local and company officials would guide how the money is spent with the aim of improving livelihoods and curbing incentives for logging. "It's a 50-50 deal. We ensure they get their funding and they use that funding as per an economic development committee that is established," said Brett Goldsworthy, chairman of Shift2Neutral, adding the aim was to make sure the money wasn't squandered. The tribes are the customary owners of the land and the legal owners of the carbon but many still have subsistence livelihoods. "You've got tribal people who have barely got any money and they are desperate for money for things like medical aid," Goldsworthy said on Friday. "What we will do with our funding is to start instigating other programs along the lines of medical, food aid, schooling, clothing to make sure there is a sustainable future," he said. PROTECTION Besides boosting incomes, better monitoring of the forest was also crucial. "The main threat they face is illegal loggers," he said. "It is key to get more forestry people involved for the protection of the forest and having checks and measures on their boundary borders to ensure that people aren't getting through." Goldsworthy said he hoped the carbon survey and management plan for the area would be finished by next year, followed by the issuance of the first batch of carbon offsets called VERs, or voluntary emissions reductions, to be sold to investors. It was too early to provide an accurate estimate of the number of VERs per hectare from the Sarawak site, he said. "As the land is first-growth vegetation one could expect 50 per hectare but again we have not provided anything at this point." Avoided deforestation VERs fetch anything from $10 to $30 each depending on the project, country and risk. He said the company is developing similar projects in the Philippines, Indonesia and South Africa with VER buyers being governments, large corporates and wealthy individuals. (Source: reuters

Nisga’a hope to profit from carbon

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Published: August 03, 2010 11:00 PM

THE NISGA’A Lisims Government expects to develop a business in storing carbon through the planting of forests on its lands.

The expectation follows legislation unanimously enacted July 29 by the Nisga’a legislative assembly, the Wilp Si’ayuukhl Nisga’a.

The legislation amends the Nisga’a Forest Act to enable ecosystem restoration and carbon sequestration projects to take place on Nisga’a lands.

The new legislation grants the Nisga’a Lisims Government executive the authority to enter into ecosystem restoration and carbon rights agreements with designated contractors, indicates a release from the Lisims government.

“Under such an agreement, the Nisga’a Nation may grant an ecosystem restoration contractor the exclusive right to deal with the carbon credits that will be available in relation to the trees planted on Nisga’a Lands as part of an ecosystem restoration project,” the release continues.

“The purpose of the new legislation is twofold. First, and foremost, it will encourage the restoration of the areas of Nisga’a Lands that were devastated by logging that took place in the 1960s and 1970s.

“Second, it will enable economic benefits to be derived from the carbon that will be stored in the trees that will be planted in those restored areas, by taking advantage of emerging forest carbon sequestration markets.”

Nisga’a Lisims Government president Mitchell Stevens said the Nisga’a believe the carbon sequestration potential first of its kind in Canada when it comes to aboriginal governments.

“The ability of the Nisga’a Nation to govern its own land under the Nisga’a Treaty has allowed us to be at the forefront of a new and exciting development. This is something all Nisga’a can be proud of,” said Stevens,

Government Opens Applications For Compensatory Carbon Credits For Forest Owners

| Sourced From Voxy |
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry has announced that the owners of forest land established before 1990 can now apply for a one-off compensatory allocation of carbon credits valued from $700 to $1000 per hectare.

From 1 August 2010, owners of forest land that was planted in exotic forestry before 1990 have until November 2011 to apply from the government to receive an allocation of tradable carbon credits that is valued between NZ$700 and NZ$1000 per hectare of forest.

Carbon Business Manager for Independent Forestry Services Mike Mitchell said that this is an opportunity that forest owners should not pass up.

“This free allocation of tradable carbon credits is essentially compensation for the impact of deforestation rules brought in under the Emissions Trading Scheme has had on pre-1990 forest land. These credits can be sold tax free. This is a windfall for some forest owners, and they should be looking to apply as soon as possible”.

For southern forest owners, the value of this allocation is over NZ$50 million, and over the whole country hundreds of millions of dollars.

Mitchell says that it is expected that government will have a backlog of applications so it is important that forest owners contact IFS now to submit the required details so that forest owners can receive and sell their credits sooner rather than later.

IFS is a New Zealand based forest management and consulting company that provides a full forest management service that integrates traditional forest management with carbon management. They have been providing advice on carbon management to major New Zealand corporates, forest owners and overseas investors since the inception of the New Zealand carbon market.