Emerging forest economics

Some recommended reading to help you understand the argument for including carbon sequestration as an economic value of BC's forests:

Latest BC Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory

This spreadsheet shows where BC's greenhouse gas emissions originate, including those resulting from the forest industry, deforestation and the changing carbon sequestration capacity of BC's forests.

 Forestry and Carbon in BC, by forest ecologist Dr. Jim Pojar

Pojar tackles "7 myths" that have been promulgated about the ability of different ages of forests to act as carbon sinks and sources and outlines a different approach to forest management that could optimized carbon sequestration.

Intact Forests in the United States: Proforestation Mitigates Climate Change and Serves the Greatest Good by William R. Moomaw1, Susan A. Masino and Edward K. Faison

Climate change and loss of biodiversity are widely recognized as the foremost environmental challenges of our time. Forests annually sequester large quantities of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), and store carbon above and below ground for long periods of time. Intact forests—largely free from human intervention except primarily for trails and hazard removals—are the most carbon-dense and biodiverse terrestrial ecosystems, with additional benefits to society and the economy. Internationally, focus has been on preventing loss of tropical forests, yet U.S. temperate and boreal forests remove sufficient atmospheric CO2 to reduce national annual net emissions by 11%. U.S. forests have the potential for much more rapid atmospheric CO2 removal rates and biological carbon sequestration by intact and/or older forests. The recent 1.5 Degree Warming Report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change identifies reforestation and afforestation as important strategies to increase negative emissions, but they face significant challenges: afforestation requires an enormous amount of additional land, and neither strategy can remove sufficient carbon by growing young trees during the critical next decade(s). In contrast, growing existing forests intact to their ecological potential—termed proforestation—is a more effective, immediate, and low-cost approach that could be mobilized across suitable forests of all types. Proforestation serves the greatest public good by maximizing co-benefits such as nature-based biological carbon sequestration and unparalleled ecosystem services such as biodiversity enhancement, water and air quality, flood and erosion control, public health benefits, low impact recreation, and scenic beauty

 A Carbon Calculator for Harvested Wood Products by Caren Dymond, Larry McUlloch and James Salazar

(Basic information about the capacity of different forest products to serve as carbon sinks, and the timeframe over which different products return carbon to the atmosphere.)