(OT) Australia & Carbon Credits - treeplanting by international types

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40,000 hectares to be planted in NSW
Source: AAP
Published: Tuesday February 15, 3:26 PM

Australia has signed a $130 million world-first deal to plant trees to offset greenhouse gases but a CSIRO expert today warned emissions trading was not a panacea for global warming.

Dr Chris Mitchell from the CSIRO's greenhouse research program welcomed the contract signed yesterday between TEPCO Forests (Australia) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Tokyo Electric Power Co, and NSW Forests.

The deal will see NSW Forests paid $130 million to plant 40,000 hectares of hard wood and soft wood in the state's north coast and southern tablelands over ten years.

Premier Bob Carr said it was an historic agreement that would create 200 regional jobs over ten years.

Dr Mitchell said the deal was an acknowledgement by the company that global warming was expected to worsen.

'You've got the world's biggest privately-owned power utility laying out plantations in NSW to compensate for the impact of its emissions,' Dr Mitchell said.

'That is a big step.'

Dr Mitchell described the announcement as 'a step in the right direction but not a panacea for the greenhouse effect'.

'It's really good that people are starting to pay attention to the issue of global warming but they should be conscious of the fact that there is no straightforward fix,' Dr Mitchell told AAP.

'It's a balancing act.'

People should be concentrating on reducing emissions as well as offsetting the effects, he said.

'We should be also concentrating on using energy efficiently, developing new energy technologies, switching to less gas house intrusive fuels,' he said.

Potentially, we might have to consider the dramatic and expensive option of putting carbon dioxide into storage underground or in the sea, he said.

However, tree planting had other substantial environmental benefits, particularly in places that had become deforested.

Australia was an ideal environment to plant forests as it had suitable forestry sites as well as good forest management infrastructure.

NSW Forests Minister Kim Yeadon, who travelled to Tokyo to sign the agreement, said it was an historic partnership, confirming the state's leadership in carbon trading.

He expected to sign even bigger contracts in the future as companies emitting carbon dioxide considered how to manage their global warming risk.

The forests would also benefit other environmental issues such as the control of dryland salinity in the Murray-Darling Basin, renewable energy systems and provide additional timber resources, he said.

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Comment:
This is an important development if you're into carbon credits. Until recently I hadn't any idea how it all works. Still don't get it fully. Apparently international business can trade in carbon credits like in this article. It offsets against emissions? Can anyone explain this development?

Thanks in advance etc.

Regards from OZ

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 15, 2000

Answers

'Premier Bob Carr said it was an historic agreement that would create 200 regional jobs over ten years.'

Blue gums are grown mostly locally. To create 200 jobs you get rid of the farmer, the milky, the trucky, the road grader, the schoolbus route, the old infrastructure and then put up signs announcing 'road closed' and no entry.

The system is made, and punted on, by Carbon Credit traders in an exchange hall. In ten years time a mobile mill spews the timber chips into huge trucker bins that deliver to a ship to value add the product overseas.

No new jobs then, just imported workers.

Carbon Credits means negative jobs growth in my region.

Regards from OZ

-- Pieter (zaadz@icisp.net.au), February 15, 2000.


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