Environmental Defense Praises Carbon Sequestration Incentive Act

Environmental Defense today applauded the introduction by Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS) and Tom Daschle (D-SD) of the International Carbon Sequestration Incentive Act, which recognizes the problem of global warming and offers incentives to start addressing the problem, through forest preservation and other land management based options. Carbon is stored in trees, plants, soil and fossil fuels. When trees, plants or fossil fuels are burned, carbon dioxide, a potent greenhouse gas, is released. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions through reducing fossil fuel emissions and forest destruction are two major ways of reducing the global warming threat.

Eight of the ten hottest years of the 20th century occurred during the ’90s, and virtually every month of 1998 set a record for being the hottest respective month on record. Most recently, the period from January through April 2000 was the hottest such period on record.

“In a world facing rapid, unchecked climate change, many existing problems - economic, social and environmental - will only be made worse and harder to solve,” said Elizabeth Thompson, Environmental Defense legislative director. “By recognizing the link between forest conservation and climate change, this bill focuses on a creative, and environmentally beneficial way to address one aspect of the problem of global warming.”

The bill would provide incentives for both carbon conservation in forests and carbon sequestration by forests. In addition to the critical carbon benefits they provide, forests themselves are crucial ecosystems. “If successful, this legislation could contribute to two basic ways of managing global warming gases in the atmosphere. Forest preservation functions as an emissions reduction strategy since it prevents carbon from being released into the atmosphere,” said Dr. Janine Bloomfield, an Environmental Defense scientist. “At the same time, growing forests can draw carbon from the atmosphere and store it on a long-term basis, removing polluting greenhouse gases from the atmosphere.”

Carbon sequestration and conservation projects only work if they meet strict environmental safeguards, which can be challenging to design and implement. This bill addresses the complexities of conferring its benefits on only truly effective sequestration and conservation projects by including safeguards against incentives for conversions of native ecosystems and protection of indigenous people’s land tenure. In addition, it establishes a relatively transparent project approval process which allows for participation by non-governmental organizations.

Also covered under the bill are agricultural practices that allow farmers to improve the quality of their land and enhance water quality, while helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase carbon storage. Agricultural practices such as manure management and no-till cultivation systems reduce emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Crop rotation, conservation buffers, fertilizer management and other techniques increase carbon storage in the soil.