Forestry

On June 24 in Washington DC, the governing body of the multilateral Forest Investment Program (FIP) gathered for its fourth meeting and made a series of decisions, advancing the FIP to its next critical stage of implementation.

“We need to continuously, strongly and publicly argue that carbon sequestration is only one of many ecosystem services that forests can provide”.

“Climate change has focused our attention on the need for urgent and decisive action if we are to avoid the Earth passing a point of no return beyond which the future will be out of our hands” declared IUCN Deputy Director-General Dr William Jackson earlier this month in a keynote speech to the 18th Commonwealth Forestry Congress in Edinburgh.

Less than six months before the global climate summit in Copenhagen, this summer is giving us another taste of climate change. The extended heat wave reminded us that we're on the edge of a dangerous threshold unless we reduce carbon emissions quickly.

The tree-planting carbon offset proposed by B.C.'s Ministry of Forests in July doesn't inspire confidence that the province understands how forests can truly help us meet this challenge.

FOR decades, some university endowments, pension funds and other big investors have put part of their money to work in the woods. They’ve bought large tracts of timberland, viewing them as an asset class separate from stocks, bonds and other forms of real estate.

Turning income into capital without taxation in this world is like trying to spin straw into gold, impossible unless you know Rumpelstiltskin.

Well as it turns out he and I are on quite friendly terms and it was he who introduced me to forestry investments.

Most governments are eager to support any activities that they regard as beneficial or that allow tax planning to continue if it delivers a public benefit.