The practice, which puts a value on trees that remain standing and absorbing carbon, is one way of dealing with the problem of greenhouse gas emissions.
Carbon markets and regulations for participating in them are maturing as Canada seeks to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.
They want a bigger share of stumpage revenues for logging, along with policies and regulations that reflect their desires enshrined in provincial, and now national, legislation.
That’s one of the motivations behind a plan by eight communities represented by the Secwepemcúl’ecw Restoration and Stewardship Society to explore opportunities to benefit from carbon offsets on traditional lands.
“Our goal is to generate enough revenue so we can buy back timber licences from licensees so we have total control over stewardship and forest management practices,” said Angie Kane, chief executive officer of SRSS.
Once certified, these stands of trees generate carbon credits that can be bought by industrial polluters that face emissions limits.
Their company, WilsonZinter, formed a joint venture this year with Toronto-based Carbon Streaming Corp., which has invested in projects to protect jungle in Borneo and mangroves on Mexico’s west coast.
It follows our goals and our values very well, which are benefiting First Nations and benefiting restoration work in Northern British Columbia,” she said.
The Great Bear Initiative was set up by eight First Nations to protect the Great Bear Rainforest on the B.C.
The project generates roughly one million offset tonnes per year.
Like the Great Bear Initiative, private arrangements have the potential to achieve the twin goals of contributing to Canada’s climate change-fighting ambitions and reconciliation with Indigenous communities, said Carbon Streaming chief executive Justin Cochrane.
However, the province has signed atmospheric benefit sharing agreements with several First Nations that clarify Indigenous rights and ownership and the right to sell credits.
Under the current rules, private capital can’t go to funding such a project to be part of the government system.
“That’s definitely a hurdle we hope will be cleared in the near future.
It has just launched a Canada-wide credit program following the approval of a protocol for forest management by the American Carbon Registry, a non-profit that certifies voluntary greenhouse gas offsets.
“This is where you get into sort of a tricky conversation about who owns the land and, more importantly for carbon, who owns the carbon rights,” he said.
One worry for Indigenous communities, says SRSS’s Ms. Kane, remains how to maintain control of an arrangement when companies seek partnerships, following decades of unfulfilled promises in resource projects.
“The Indigenous worldview and environment are finally starting to come to the forefront – our knowledge systems and our way of relating to the land from a social perspective,” said Mr. Gladu, who is in talks on potential projects with First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities in Western Canada.
He’s working with Canada’s Forest Trust, a new Ottawa-based company that plants trees to generate carbon credits and help companies and other organizations meet their own environmental, social and governance goals.
The company hasn’t yet turned its attention to B.C., but the massive wildfires that have destroyed vast forests there present opportunities for replanting, he says.