01/03/2005 - Growing forests
as offsets to greenhouse gas emissions will
become easier for landholders in rural and
regional Australia today with the release
of two new guides to planning forest sink
projects.
Minister for the Environment and Heritage,
Senator Ian Campbell, said the two publications
- A Guide to Legal, Taxation and Contractual
Issues and A Guide to Carbon Pooling and Investment
Structures - would help land managers navigate
the legal, financial, taxation and organisational
issues involved in developing carbon sinks.
"These guides will help regional land
managers and forest growers engage in carbon
sink projects that are good for the atmosphere
and good for the land," he said.
"Forests are a great way to offset greenhouse
gas emissions from other sources such as energy
generation.
"Forests inhale carbon dioxide from the
air and breathe out oxygen, effectively removing
carbon from the air and storing it in the
tree biomass.
"In an environmental 'double-play',
they generate other benefits such as providing
habitat for wildlife and helping to reduce
and control salinity levels."
Forest carbon sinks can be either commercial
forest plantations or environmental plantations
and may also earn land managers revenue from
the sale of carbon offsets.
The Guides were developed as part of the
Australian Government's $20.5 million Greenhouse
Action in Regional Australia Programme and
are another example of the Government's strong,
practical action in response to climate change.
The guides complement the National Carbon
Accounting Toolbox and Data Viewer launched
today at the ABARE Outlook conference, further
equipping landholders to reduce their total
greenhouse gas emissions and increase their
productivity.
