- TIMBERBIZ.COM.AU - A La Une - 20/Jan 00:42

Proposed native forest carbon method raises more questions

The peak state body for the forest and timber industry in Queensland has raised major concerns with the announcement by the Australian Government of a proposed new carbon method known as the Improved Native Forest Management in Multiple-use Public Forests. Source: Timberbiz “This proposed method raises far more questions than answers for addressing long term climate mitigation and the integrity of the carbon credits intended to be generated,” Timber Queensland CEO Mick Stephens said. The method is at odds with the high-level principle identified in the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 4th assessment report that states: In the long term, a sustainable forest management strategy aimed at maintaining or increasing forest carbon stocks, while producing an annual sustained yield of timber, fibre or energy from the forest, will generate the largest sustained mitigation benefit. “The proposed method suggests that by simply ceasing sustainable timber harvesting in public multiple-use forests you can generate additional long-term abatement compared to the counterfactual of continued harvesting and storage of carbon in regrowing forests and harvested wood products,” Mr Stephens said. “This is in direct contrast to many life cycle analyses of managed forests with sustainable timber harvesting, which show long-term sustained carbon benefits when the substitution of steel and concrete in the built environment is included along with carbon stored in forests and harvested wood products,” he said. “The method fails on multiple accounts to meet the very principles Minister Bowen set out following the recent Chubb review into the land-based carbon sequestration market.” These failures include: a high likelihood of perverse carbon mitigation outcomes; a risk of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on dodgy credits; adverse economic and social outcomes for the native forestry industry if implemented; disregard for a growing body of Australian and international research supporting the longer-term carbon benefits from actively managing native forests with the inclusion of sustainable timber harvesting; and a lack of transparency and public disclosure on the proposed method and assessment process used by the Emissions Reduction Assurance Committee (ERAC).