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Timber industry says carbon farming won't attract commercial investment
Wednesday, 20 April 2011 11:34
Timber industry says carbon farming won't attract commercial investment
Wednesday, 20/04/2011
The timber industry doubts that carbon farming will be lucrative (Cath McAloon)
The forestry industry says the Federal Government's proposed Carbon Farmining Initiative is a missed opportunity to reduce emissions.
The government wants to get the scheme through Parliament by July, to allow landholders to make money from planting trees and improving their soils.
Two forestry groups have told a Senate inquiry in Canberra that the initiative will not attract commercial users.
Allan Hansard, from the Australian Forest Products Association, says the forest industry can make a significant contribution to mitigating climate change, given the right policies.
"However, given the proposed design of the CFI scheme, there remains significant impediments for the realistic uptake of the wider forestry industry for carbon sequestration, particularly for commercial timber product."
Meanwhile, a Private Forests Tasmania project has found there are no clearly profitable ways for Tasmanian farmers to grow trees and trade carbon at the moment.
The $255,000 federally-funded project measured carbon emissions and storage on four northern Tasmanian farms and looked at the opportunities for plantation development, offsets, carbon credits and trading.
Forester Arthur Lyons says they calculated carbon sequestration, wood production and investment opportunities now and in the future.
"To put it briefly, the higher the value of the land for agricultural production, the higher the price would have to be for carbon if a landholder wished to plant plantations on his farm, to offset his own emissions or to trade carbon in the future," Mr Lyons said.
"Right now today, there aren't clear commercial opportunities to grow trees and trade carbon."
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/news/content/201104/s3196490.htm
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