Page 13 - Off Grid East Cost Spring 2017

Access to markets
“Today billions of dollars are trading hands every year in North American cap and trade markets that include California, Quebec and soon to be Ontario. If the Liberal government wanted to, they could link NB’s carbon pricing system to these larger markets, giving our private woodlot owners – some 40,000 of them – access to a new economic opportunity. Imagine what access to a market like that would do for our rural, resource dependent communities.”
improving the prospects for the forest industry long into the future.”
Fair prices
If the province decides to go the carbon tax route, however, Prest says that it is unclear how woodlot owners will be able to participate. “Even if the province puts in place a limited, provincial market for the trading of carbon credits, it represents a real opportunity lost to bring new export dollars into NB. Without a cap and trade program linked to those other systems, our woodlot owners won’t have access to fair prices and markets for their carbon credits.”
Source: Dale Prest and Zachary Melanson
For more information see www.forestsinternational.org
Managing forests for carbon storage does not prevent the harvesting of trees for lumber and pulp, adds Prest. “The way carbon is best stored in a forest is through careful, ongoing management of the forest that aims to grow many different species with multiple ages, removing short lived unhealthy trees to make space for longer lived, more valuable trees. We will not only keep forestry contractors employed and sawmills going, but managing for carbon improves the quality and health of our forest resource, thereby
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