Invest in Forests to Maximize Carbon Storage and to Avoid Net Forest Land Conversion (AFW Action 1.2)

Sustain the natural carbon sink provided by forests and their capacity to remove CO2 from the atmosphere. Through photosynthesis, New Hampshire's forests take up the equivalent of 25% of the state's manmade CO2 emissions annually. Minimizing forest land conversion to non-forested uses will be a key component of any successful emission reduction strategy - Note that 20% of global manmade CO2 emissions are caused by conversion of forest land to non-forested uses. Public policy objectives should include encouraging forest land owners to manage their forests sustainably for the dual purposes of producing forest products and maximizing carbon storage. Available tools include conservation easements, carbon easements and leases, new forest management strategies, and land use regulation. New Hampshire has had considerable success in conserving large blocks of contiguous forest land through perpetual easements – an important tool in maintaining the carbon sink that New Hampshire's forests presently provide and one which should be aggressively promoted in the presence of growing, competing land use pressures.