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Forest carbon conservation project launched in Arkansas

By Hannah Kett of Ecosystem Marketplace
February 03, 2011

This is a cross-post under mongabay's partnership with Ecosystem Marketplace.

The United States may not have capped its national greenhouse gas emissions, but the US state of California did cap its state emissions – and voters there seconded the state’s decision when they rejected Proposition 23, which would have all but killed cap-and-trade. The end of Prop 23 could mean the beginning of a great experiment to see if people in the United States can make money by doing good. This carbon fund is betting on a positive outcome.

Thanks to money from a New York-based carbon fund that believes it can generate positive returns by locking up carbon in the trees, 10,000 acres of privately-owned Arkansas forestland along the Mississippi River will remain in its natural state.

The EKO Green Carbon Fund (GCF) was officially launched last week by EKO Asset Management Partners after wrapping up its first round of funding in January. It's the first-ever US carbon fund to focus exclusively on projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions by improving land use – for example, by saving endangered forests that sequester carbon.

GCF’s first investment – in a project along the Arkansas banks of the Mississippi River – is designed to secure and produce credits that will qualify under California's AB-32 cap-and-trade program, which is set to launch in 2012. Learn more about the fund at Ecosystem Marketplace: US Fund Mines Carbon Gold in Arkansas Trees.

CITATION:
By Hannah Kett of Ecosystem Marketplace (February 03, 2011).

Forest carbon conservation project launched in Arkansas.

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0203-emm_arkansas.html

Tags:
ecosystem marketplace forest carbon ecosystem finance carbon conservation united states forests green environment

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