Our friends at various groups around the country fighting wood-burning biomass facilities took to the halls of Congress today to lobby for the end of unjust subsidies for biomass...
Teaming Up with Former Foes to Protect Forests & Fight Climate Change
Today we launched a brand new initiative to protect Southern forests and fight climate change...
Dogwood Alliance,
Staples, Conservation Groups, Wood Products Companies and Landowners Join to
Protect Forests and Combat Climate Change
Today, Dogwood Alliance and one-time foe Staples
teamed up with other conservation groups, wood products companies and
landowners to announce a new, comprehensive project that will protect forests,
combat climate change and help develop sources of paper and wood products
certified to the high standards of the Forest
Stewardship Council (FSC).
The Carbon Canopy is focused on forests in
the Southern US, the largest paper and wood-producing
region in the world where 90% of the forests are privately owned. Logging
practices such as large scale clearcutting and the conversion of natural
forests to plantations have created concerns about the long-term health of the
region’s forests.
As a first step to
addressing these concerns, the Carbon Canopy will develop a pioneering project
that will be based on rigorous environmental standards to determine how the
emerging US
forest carbon market can be credibly leveraged to pay private landowners to
expand carbon stores in working forests in the South.The ultimate goal is to create financial
incentives for landowners to increase forest conservation and restoration
efforts, and to certify management practices to the high standards of Forest Stewardship
Council (FSC).
Through
the pilot project the Carbon Canopy will “test” how Southern forest landowners
might benefit financially from expanding forest conservation and restoration on
the ground in a working forest certified to the high standards of FSC
certification.The pilot project will be
focused on increasing the abundance of older, more mature natural forests
through select logging and thinning.In
addition to expanding carbon sequestration the management practices will ensure
the protection of water quality and biodiversity.The initial project will meet the rigorous
carbon accounting standards of the Voluntary
Carbon Standard (VCS) and the Climate
Action Reserve (CAR) and the management practices will meet the high
standards of FSC certification.Staples and
Interface, have
offered to pay the pilot project landowner(s) for increases in carbon stored
and sequestered as a result of improved forest management practices on the
ground.Pacific Forest Trust will manage the
development of the pilot project.
Never
before have we seen this kind of collaboration in the South between forest
industry, large US
corporations, landowners and environmental groups to find real solutions. Through investing in the protection,
conservation and restoration of forests, we can not only reduce carbon
emissions, but we can also ensure a healthy forest legacy for future generations, while providing a helping hand to
the millions of families and individuals who manage forestland in the Southern
US.
Here is what our friends at Staples had to say
about the Carbon Canopy, “This project is a continuation of the important work
that we began with Dogwood Alliance years ago to effect change and responsibly
preserve and cultivate the forests of the US,” said Mark Buckley, vice
president of environmental affairs of Staples Inc.“We are excited to be a part of a project
focused on the longevity of our forests, one that will benefit the stewards of
the land, positively impact future generations and support local and regional
economies by creating products originating from forests managed to a high
environmental standard.”
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