Carbon

Carbon

Carbon is used as a proxy for greenhouse gas emissions for incentive and speculative schemes in which trees are often seen as a major part of the solution. Schemes such as the Carbon Farming Initiative have been questioned when they require permanence of forests without government sharing risks. Permanence in that usage prohibits harvesting of the timber in which the carbon is sequestered even if that timber is used in a permanent structure.

This disincentive to otherwise environmentally oriented investors is compounded by orienting incentives primarily to new forest plantings and thereby prejudicing acknowledgement of commercial plantations as carbon-managed forests. Many of these forests are on farmlands. In promoting farm forestry, government also seeks to increase sources of wood and fibre from well managed tree plantations and private native forestry. In part, the confusion in definitions may be attributed to the artificial separation of the disciplines of agriculture and forestry.

Trees on farms are promoted as improving overall health of a farm and the wider environment while also capturing and storing carbon. The shelterbelts, woodlots, conservation areas, private forests and trees on agriculturally unproductive sections of a farm are omitted or inadequately considered in carbon incentive schemes. The long-term commitment of planting trees and forests has therefore relied on private initiatives, sometimes through Landcare.

For motivated private forest owners, incentives oriented to either carbon or commercial timber production may be irrelevant. While new plantings established specifically for carbon credits are sometimes argued as supporting the wider benefits of forests, it follows that existing private forests that might otherwise be cleared deserved recognition and should be encouraged. Similarly, it is reasoned that harvesting of private forests for exported pulp rather than timber is carbon negative.

Falvey Forest was established before carbon schemes were introduced.