About Forest Carbon Offsets

WORKING LAND EASEMENTS AND FOREST CARBON OFFSETS An Opportunity for New Brunswick Woodlot Owners

WHOAre We? In 2012, the New Brunswick Community Land Trust (NBCLT) partnered with Community Forests International (CFI) to pilot an innovative approach to forest carbon offsetting. This trial initiative, the Whaelghinbran Forest Carbon Project, successfully combined working land easements, certified forest management, and carbon offsetting to protect over 200 hectares of Acadian forest and generate approximately $200,000 in revenue.

Building upon this success, Community Forests International and the New Brunswick Community Land Trust are now scoping the potential of a regional forest carbon offsetting program for private woodlot owners in Atlantic Canada, and are looking to gauge landowners' interest in the process.

HOW Can I Learn More?

The New Brunswick Community Land Trust The New Brunswick Community Land Trust (NBCLT) is a non-profit organization that is committed to supporting ecologically sustainable land-use practices and economic development in rural New Brunswick by helping landowners establish working land easements.

(506) 536-3738 . nbclt@forestsinternational.org

Community Forests International Community Forests International (CFI) is an international environmental start-up that works to connect people and their communities to the forests that sustain them.

(506) 536-3738 info@forestsinternational.org

WHAT Are Working Land Easements?

A working land easement is a unique tool that allows landowners to protect the ecological values of their land. Working land easements are legally-binding, voluntary agreements that are made between a landowner and a Land Trust.

The agreement transfers certain land use rights from the landowner to the Land Trust to ensure that the property is sustainably managed. For example, working land easements often permanently restrict a landowner’s right to subdivide their property or clear cut large areas of their forest.

Working land easements are unique in that they are drafted to be as flexible as possible in order to promote the continued use of the land for sustainable forestry and/or agriculture. When the land is sold, the new landowner is similarly held to the conditions of the easement.

Working land easements are able to protect against land-use conversion, for example clear cutting a forest to create a suburban subdivision. Under certain carbon offset programs, easements can lower the amount of offsets that must be set aside as insurance in the event of a natural disaster or unforeseen event.

WHAT Are Forest Carbon Offsets?

Carbon offsets are a form of trade. When businesses buy an offset, they are funding projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions to compensate for their own environmental impact.

Carbon offsets can include renewable energy, resource conservation, and forestry projects.

WHAT Should Landowners Consider?

Forest carbon offsets are created when people voluntarily manage forests in such a way as to capture or prevent carbon dioxide or another greenhouse gas (GHG) from being released into the atmosphere.

There are several different types of forest carbon offset projects: ‣

Avoided conversion (AC): Those which prevent the conversion of a forest to a non-forest use;

‣

Afforestation/reforestation (AR): Those which involve re-planting degraded forests; and

‣

Improved forest management (IFM): Those which involve actively managing the forest to improve its overall quality.

In thinking about participating in the carbon market, there are four key factors that landowners should consider to determine whether offsets are a cost effective option for them. They include:

1.

2.

3.

4.

Whether the landowner is willing to commit to long-term ownership of the property and a long-term offsetting agreement.

Whether the land is already held under an easement, restricting the permitted management activities.

HOW

To Determine your Land’s Offsetting Potential

LOW possibility if your land: ✓ Has recently been heavily harvested ✓ Is under an existing easement that prevents all future timber harvesting

MEDIUM possibility if your land: ✓ ✓

Has recently been harvested or has less timber volume compared to average land in the region Is under an easement that restricts only some timber harvesting

HIGH possibility if your land: The current amount of timber that is growing on the land compared to the regional average.

The amount of forestland that is under consideration to qualify for forest carbon offsets.

✓ Has > 20% more timber volume compared to other lands in the region ✓ Is not subject to an easement that restricts timber harvesting ✓ Landowner is willing and able to enter into a long-term contract