Economics of afforestation for carbon sequestration in western Canada

The Kyoto Accord on climate change requires developed countries to achieve CO2-emissions reduction targets, but permits them to charge uptake of carbo n (C) in terrestrial (primarily forest) ecosystems against emissions. Count ries such as Canada hope to employ massive afforestation programs to achiev e Kyoto targets. One reason is that foresters have identified large areas t hat can be afforested. In this paper, we examine this forestry option, focu sing on the economics of afforestation in western Canada. In particular, we develop marginal C uptake curves and show that much less land is available for afforestation than would be the case if economics is ignored. We concl ude that, while afforestation is a feasible weapon in the greenhouse policy arsenal, it might not be as effective on an economic basis as many forest- sector analysts make out.