Carbon Sequestration in British Columbia’s Forests and Management Options

This White Paper describes the potential of forests in the northern hemisphere in general, and in British Columbia in particular, in sequestering atmospheric carbon dioxide and thus mitigating anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, apart from providing environmental and economical benefits. We first describe the extent of forest C stocks and C sequestration rates, and how they are affected by climate change and natural and human-induced disturbances. This is followed by a discussion of management for conservation and efficient utilization of forest C stocks and management options for increasing C sequestration rates. We do not attempt to compare the economics of different management options for maximum C sequestration. Rather, we focus on future research needs required for developing an appropriate adaptive management response framework.