One concern of societies around the world is the rapidly escalating amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere. It may have already risen to levels that threaten the environment and the balance of nature, and continues to rise every year.
The modern history of the attempt to control the rise in atmospheric carbon begins with the Kyoto Protocol, which created a cap-and-trade system for reducing carbon emissions. There is now a market where we can observe the current value for one ton of carbon dioxide reduction (carbon credit).
Relating to the Finca Bahia Gracia project, there are a few important developments that could vastly increase the value of natural forest and reforestation:
- The Kyoto Protocol was not adopted by the United States, the largest emitter of atmospheric carbon. We now know that it is a priority of the Executive and Legislative branches to enter the US into a carbon cap-and-trade system similar to the Kyoto Protocol. This should dramatically increase demand for carbon credits and therefore the value of those credits.
- The political rhetoric in the US and around the world indicates that the successor agreement(s) to the Kyoto Protocol should be much more ambitious in its carbon reduction targets. Again, more ambitious targets will increase the demand for carbon credits and the value of those credits.
- The Kyoto Protocol discouraged the use of natural forest and reforestation for carbon absorption. It is anticipated that the successor agreement(s) to the Kyoto Protocol will allow the creation of carbon credits from reforestation and natural forest. It is now recognized that the financial incentive will spur conservation of natural forest and reforestation efforts more than the current, mostly unsuccessful policies.
According to a 2006 U.K. study, just 1.5+/- acres of tropical forest land could be worth as much as $25,000 in carbon credits at a CO2 price of $35 to $50 a ton. (The E.U. market price in May was $39.) This would indicate a value for Finca Bahia Gracia of over $60 million.
