The program intends to employ the emerging US forest carbon market to pay private forest owners for conservation and restoration efforts while making certain that all forest-use practices subscribes to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).
Carbon Canopy brings together Fortune 500 Companies, including Staples, The Home Depot, and Domtar with environmental organizations, Dogwood Alliance, Pacific Forest Trust, and the Rainforest Alliance.
"Never before have we seen this kind of collaboration in the South between forest industry, large US corporations, landowners and environmental groups to find real solutions" stated Danna Smith, Executive Director of the Dogwood Alliance, an environmental organization that works with corporations to save embattled southern forests. "Through investing in the protection, conservation and restoration of forests, we can not only reduce carbon emissions, but we can also ensure a healthy forest legacy for future generations, while providing a helping hand to the millions of families and individuals who manage forestland in the Southern US."
The program is setting up a pilot project on 535 acres of privately owned forest land in North Carolina. The projects aims to see how private landowners may benefit financially from a combination of conservation and sustainable management as outlined by the FSC. The project will fall in line with the accounting standards of the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VSC) and the Climate Action Reserve (CAR). Staples and Interface have offered to pay the landowner for any increases in carbon storage through the project, which is managed by the Pacific Forest Trust.
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