Policy Development Support

NFSC Forest Carbon Risk Analysis Project
Harvest Residues for Bioenergy

The carbon accounting team of the Canadian Forest Service works in close collaboration with both federal and provincial government policy makers to help ensure that forest policy development is supported by sound science. Climate change and the introduction of greenhouse gas emission reduction targets have brought new challenges to the forest sector. The forest sector is different from most other sectors in that it can provide carbon “sinks” to offset greenhouse gas emissions from other sectors. Forest carbon sinks are difficult to measure, and developing policies that encourage good carbon management while reinforcing the sustainability and competitiveness of the forest sector is no small challenge. A good understanding of forest carbon dynamics and the factors that control the forest carbon budget is required. The carbon accounting team works with policy makers to provide relevant and timely scientific information and to ensure that complex scientific issues are synthesized in a manner that allows these issues to be taken into consideration during the policy development process.

For more information, contact: Graham Stinson

National Forest Sinks Committee Forest Carbon Risk Analysis Project

Since 2001, the carbon accounting team has been working closely with provincial and territorial government experts from across Canada to assess the risk of Canada’s forests acting as a source of carbon to the atmosphere. Until relatively recently, it was widely assumed that forests are carbon sinks – as trees grow, they sequester carbon from the atmosphere. Since Canada has lots of forests, we should have a large forest carbon sink, right? Not necessarily. More information…

Harvest Residues for Bioenergy

Interest in bioenergy is heightened these days, as a result of high oil prices and concerns about climate change. The carbon accounting team at the Canadian forest Service is currently exploring whether NFCMARS can be used to estimate current and future supply of wood for bioenergy that is available from Canada’s forests.

For more information, contact: Graham Stinson