On the other hand the coming of carbon credits could be a bonanza for forestry; article;
"Forest and wood products can play a key role in Australia meeting its future greenhouse gas emission targets, according to the nation's major forestry body.
The forestry sector delivered more than 43 million tonnes of carbon dioxide abatement in 2004, says the National Association of Forest Industries.
In a submission to the Federal Government's national emissions trading taskforce, NAFI said forestry was now lumped in with land clearing or other land-use changes.
NAFI chief executive Catherine Murphy said this was unfair.
"The forest industry, through the carbon sequestration benefits of native forest and plantations in wood products, can assist in offsetting emissions from other sectors," she said.
"The plantation sector could assist agriculture as well as other sectors in offsetting emissions."
Mrs Murphy said the full net benefits of wood products should be included in the development of a national emissions trading scheme.
She said recognising the long-term storage of carbon in wood products would:
¡ö Make carbon trading more attractive for industry. ¡ö Increase the value of carbon sequestration in forests as the penalty now paid due to the false belief all carbon is emitted at harvest would be removed. ¡ö Encourage more plantations for carbon sequestration, encouraging small growers. ¡ö Increase the use of carbon-storing wood products over high carbon-emitting materials. ¡ö Encourage the use of wood waste residues for renewable energy and biofuels. Mrs Murphy said wood products were renewable and required less energy in their production than alternative materials.
"Because energy rating schemes ¡ are not based on full life-cycle assessments, the comparative environmental advantages of sustainably harvested wood are not fully recognised," she said.
Storage of carbon in wood products was a more secure way of locking up carbon, she said. Forests were always threatened by fires, disease and natural mortality. "A frequent harvest-planting regime would minimise the risks associated with the long-term build-up of fuel load in permanent forests," she said.
Establishing more plantations through the 2020 Vision ¡ª the target of trebling the area of commercial tree crops by 2020 ¡ª would produce an estimated 50 million tonnes of carbon dioxide offsets a year, Mrs Murphy said.
"This could be achieved by recommitting to the strategy in the context of the benefits for emissions reduction and climate change
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