A broad range of forestry groups in both the US and Canada have joined forces to help address climate change. Together they will develop bi-national consensus standards for determining how carbon absorbed in North American forests will be measured and counted.

"Forestry across North America is a very important component of both (countries') economies, and provides an important solution in helping address climate change," said Michael Goergen, executive vice-president and CEO of the Society of American Foresters (SAF) and chair of the Forest Carbon Standards Committee that will develop the standards. "Organizations in both countries have similar goals for reducing greenhouse gases and this bi-national effort recognizes the contributions of forests in helping combat global warming."

Being developed under procedures accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), the standards will incorporate the technical knowledge of the forestry, carbon trading and environmental communities into approaches that are scientifically sound, economically feasible and environmentally positive. Consistent, transparent standards will be valuable to the forestry community, climate change program administrators and the public.

"There is widespread interest in defining forest carbon credit accounting rules in state, provincial, regional and national climate programs. The diversity of ... rules and a desire for standardization across jurisdictions and trading regimes have given rise to this important effort," noted John Pineau, executive director, Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institut forestier du Canada "The new consensus standards will bring together existing and emerging efforts, seek consensus on the resolution of differences and provide a broadly-supported basis for forest carbon protocols in both countries."

Organized by the American Forest & Paper Assn. (AF&PA, www.afandpa.org), Forest Products Assn. of Canada (FPAC, www.fpac.ca), SAF (www.safnet.org), and CIF/ IFC (www.cif-ifc.com), standards development will be done by a Forest Carbon Standards Committee of about 40 individuals representing a broad range of forest landowners, environmental organizations, forest products industry, federal, state and provincial government agencies, universities, carbon traders and others. The ANSI-accredited committee process will involve all interests affected by the proposed standards. The committee will conform to the Standards Council of Canada's processes, with the intent of achieving recognition for the standards in both countries. The proposed standards must be agreed to by a "consensus body" representative of the affected parties, followed by a public comment period.

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