| | Family Forests: Solutions to Climate Change
 The nation’s forests, owned mostly by families and individuals, have the potential to be the most cost-effective, near-term mitigation tool to address the nation’s climate change threats. Forests and forest products annually capture and store more than 10 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions. Family-owned forests, as the largest forest ownership group in the U.S. covering over 262 million acres, already capture and store significant amounts of carbon and can do more, if managed with this objective in mind. In addition to storing carbon in the forest, family forests also contribute to reductions in emissions when renewable energy or wood products from sustainably managed family forests are used in place of more carbon intensive materials such as fossil fuels, steel, or concrete. While family forests can serve as a tremendous mitigation tool, with any significant changes in temperature caused by climate change, these same forests may see dramatic impacts including shifting species composition, changing forest productivity, increasing drought, flooding, or wildfires, and increasing invasive species and forest pest infestations Congress must act now to establish climate change policies that support family forest owners who manage their forests for a goal of increasing carbon storage and who are taking steps to adapt their forests to the changing climate. Specifically, federal climate change policies should: - Foster forest carbon offset markets, where credits earned for carbon sequestration and storage are sold to greenhouse gas emitters, to offset their carbon emissions. These markets present a new market opportunity for family forest owners, that provide climate change mitigation benefits while also helping families stay on the land and keep the land forested.
- Create other opportunities, beyond offset markets, that provide more flexible opportunities for climate mitigation activities on family forests.
- Help family forest owners mitigate the impacts and adapt their forests to a changing climate.
The American Forest Foundation and a diverse stakeholder group of conservation, industry, wildlife, carbon finance, forestry and forest owner interests has developed specific recommendations for climate change policies to achieve the above mentioned goals. For details visit www.forestfoundation.org/climate_bill.html. Forest-Climate Policy Recommendations to Increase Family Forest Participation Climate legislation must ensure that family woodland owners can participate in the new carbon and renewable energy markets and incentives. - To meet our nation’s climate and renewable energy goals, we will need to engage the private landowners, mostly families and individuals, who own 35% of U.S. forestland.
- Sustainably managed woodlands, like those certified by the American Tree Farm System®, can supply sustainable biomass for renewable energy production.
- Access to these markets and incentives by woodland owners will provide important supplemental income opportunities, helping them stay on the land and keep it forested.
To capture these climate benefits from U.S. forests, America’s 10 million family woodland owners urge Congress to: - Guarantee woodland owners can play a role in reducing carbon emissions and reducing emitters’ costs of compliance under cap and trade by including a representative list of approved carbon offset projects.
- Place USDA in charge of forest carbon offset markets, given their expertise and experience with woodland owners. USDA should develop forest offset rules and help owners implement and verify projects.
- Allow landowners flexibility in carbon offset market participation, with varying contract lengths, while still ensuring environmentally sound projects.
- Ensure that “early actors,” owners already participating in voluntary carbon markets, can receive fair credit for their positive actions.
- Allow all sustainable forest biomass from privately-owned woodlands to be used to meet our renewable energy needs by avoiding overly restrictive definitions of renewable biomass like that in the 2007 Renewable Fuels Standard.
- Include and fund the Forest Carbon Incentives Program, as detailed in HR 2880/S 1576, which will be especially important for small woodland owners, whose lands are too small to effectively participate in offset markets.
Forests Climate Working Group Policy Platform Policy approved by American Forest Foundation Board, to expire December 31, 2009 Back to AFF Public Policy Priorities |
