Offsetting Carbon through Forest Conservation?

Question

Is it possible to market offsets by conserving forest land. I am researching for a case study in which an ecolodge is looking to secure their forested lands from illegal foresters and farmers. Would they be able to sell an offset by keeping these forested areas protected rather than carbon sequestration? If so, what standards would this fall under? Chicago Climate Exchange, Kyoto ect. Thank you for your help.

Answer 1

I would think this falls under the Chicago Climate Exchange since it is a voluntary sequestering (through) saving existing trees rather than planting new one.  Carbon is saved as the trees grow as well.  I think they would have a hard time trying to arrange an agreement where they promise to NOT cut down trees.  Most people want to pay for new forest production.  They could list and get a small sum perhaps to offset their maintenance costs.

Answer 2

They can probably get paid for it as a sequestration project.  If not by CCX, then by some other carbon credits company.

1) Old growth forest does act as a carbon sink, not just a reservoir (Schulze, Wirth, and Heimann, "Managing Forests After Kyoto", Science 22, 2058-2059, 2000).    Not all old forests act as sinks, but a lot of them do.

BUT

2) The Kyoto Protocol does not recognize old growth forest as being a carbon sink.  We didn't learn this until several years after Kyoto.  Plus, if you're in the US, then you can't do anything under Kyoto anyway, because the US withdrew from it.

HOWEVER

3) The Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) is a voluntary carbon credit trading company, which establishes its own standards for sequestration.  Frequently, these "standards" are rather loose and flexible, and companies like CCX will latch on to any means of sequestration, whether it works or not.

http://www.alternet.org/environment/5007...

The Chicago Climate Exchange will allow the use of forest conservation projects, if they are in combination with a nearby reforestation or afforestation project.

http://www.sicirec.org/media/CCX_Forest_...

If CCX isn't interested, there are other companies.  For example, Carboncredex, which is a company that helps people buying carbon credits find people selling carbon credits (a broker).  You could essentially make and sell your own credits through a broker.  That's how little regulation is on this market.  Al Gore buys his through Generation Investment Management (which he also partially owns).

And WHAT?

I REALLY don't get, "secure their forested lands from illegal foresters and farmers."  If someone is chopping down their trees and intruding on their forest, just have the local sheriff arrest them.

Answer 3

We might want to think about keeping our carbon, ( if indeed it helps warm the earth). The suns activity that causes our planet to warm up is on the decline and the earth will need all the help it can get just to stay warm.