On September 24th the California Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted an updated Forest Project Protocol allowing private landowners, public lands, and out-of-state projects to participate in the state’s voluntary forestry offsets market. This culminates the work of an ARB working group formed during the previous version of the protocol in 2007 and tasked with increasing landowner participation in the program. In addition to opening up the voluntary offsets market to a wider range of projects, the new measure requires that all projects promote natural forest management and increase on-site carbon stocks. This accounting is aided by improvements to some of the methodologies since the protocol’s first introduction.
Currently, there are two certified forests accredited under the previous protocol in Humboldt and Mendocino counties. The revised protocol is the first state-approved carbon accounting standard that is applicable to projects across the United States.
Press Release [1]
Staff Report on the Proposed Adoption of the Revised Forest Project Protocol [2]
Forest Project Protocol [3]
Links:
[1] http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/nr092409b.htm
[2] http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/forestry/forestry_protocols/forest_protocol_update_final_2009-09-10.pdf
[3] http://www.climateactionreserve.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/Forest-Project-Protocol-Version-3.0.pdf