Carbon markets focus of Woodland Owners meeting
The Southwestern Pa. Woodland Owners group will hold an informational meeting at 7 p.m. Nov. 12 about carbon markets and how forest landowners can prepare to benefit from them.
The speaker will be Josh Parrish, director of the Working Woodlands Program for The Nature Conservancy. This meeting is free and open to the public and will be at the Greene County Fairgrounds 4-H Building 10 in the downstairs meeting room.
The carbon market is a newer concept that may prove important for the health and well-being of the planet, as well as have a local benefit to forest landowners that prepare for it. Healthy forests are critical storage pools in the global carbon cycle, and their conservation is an important component of strategies to mitigate carbon emissions and secure our global supplies of fiber, clean air and fresh water.
When we think of forests sequestering carbon, many immediately think of the importance of tropical rainforests, yet recent science highlights high levels of carbon being sequester in northeastern forests and the multiple benefits these forests provide.
Carbon markets, whereby companies or individuals purchase “credits” for carbon emissions in exchange for the conservation of sustainably managed forest and the carbon they contain, are becoming increasingly popular. Such markets can be very effective in providing economic incentives to conserve large forest tracts
How can the landowners tap into this market? Through a combination of carbon markets, sustainable forest management and conservation easements, The Nature Conservancy is working with landowners to create financial incentives to ensure our forests of today remain intact forests long into the future.
Using the Working Woodlands model developed by the Nature Conservancy in Pennsylvania and directed by Parrish, the group will explore the current state of carbon markets and help landowners evaluate the relevance of carbon markets to their forests.
For more information about this meeting, please call Gay Thistle, president of Southwestern Pa. Woodland Owners, at 724-499-5190