10 April 2014

The Yurok Indian tribe is the first organisation be issued with forest carbon offsets by California's cap-and-trade programme, with the tribe receiving 836,619 offsets for an improved forest management project on tribal lands.

The Yurok tribe has seen first-hand the devastation that deforestation wreaks on trees and plant and animal species living on its tribal lands. Now, with a big stamp of approval from California regulators, the tribe is hoping to tap into the carbon markets to help reverse these devastating trends.

Power companies and other large emitters can buy the credits  to meet their compliance obligations under the state's greenhouse gas reduction programme. In November, they will be required for the first time to turn over allowances and offsets to account for their output of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

The California Air Resources Board, which administers the programme, issued 836,619 offset credits for the Yurok Tribe Sustainable Forest Project, which covers about 8,000 acres of tribal land in California's Humboldt County.

In return for the credits, the Yurok Tribe land owners have agreed to maintain or increase carbon stored in the trees for more than 100 years.  The credits are currently worth about $10.25 each, according to one carbon market participant. Offset credits typically trade at a discount to California carbon allowances (CCAs), which closed at $12 a tonne on the Intercontinental Exchange on Tuesday.

Sources: Reuters and Ecosystem Marketplace