U.S.-FocUSed Biochar report - BioEnergy Lists

Principle 7. Appropriate and continuously updated management planPrinciple 8. Appropriate monitoring and assessment activities to assess the condition of the forest, managementactivities and their social and environmental impactsPrinciple 9. Maintenance of High Conservation Value Forests (HCVFs) defined as environmental and socialvalues that are considered to be of outstanding significance or critical importancePrinciple 10. In addition to compliance with all of the above, plantations must contribute to reduce the pressureson and promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests.National Sustainability GuidelinesGeneralIn the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, Congress outlines some general sustainability requirementsfor biomass, specifically which lands could qualify as sustainable sources. This was particularly germanefor its references and restrictions on biomass from public lands.The concern over public land use comes from historic examples. When a mandate, real or perceived, is absorbedby a public land management agency, there is a tendency to move as quickly as technologically possible to fulfillthat mandate. In the case of resource extraction, such as timber harvest, especially when there have been strongeconomic motivations for industry, land management agencies have allowed highest immediate economic gainto outweigh other uses and concerns. For this reason, conservation groups have encouraged Congress to providestrict guidelines (such as restrictions on road building to access biomass, age and size class limits, volume limits,etc.) before allowing biomass removal from public lands to become incentivized by legislation.In May of 2009, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released guidelines for biofuels which requires a fulllife-cycle assessment of GHG emissions. There is no reason to believe that these may not be expanded to includebiomass to energy and biomass to biochar production.Carbon off-sets and cap-and-trade/cap-and-dividend systems increase emphasis on terrestrial carbon sequestration.This invites conflicts between leaving biomass in place for active carbon sequestration and removing it forfossil-fuel replacing energy -- a challenging conundrum.Pacific Northwest Biochar Initiative Sustainability Protocols (written for national application):Pacific Northwest Biochar Initiative (PNBI) organization is an informal network of biochar enthusiasts, businesses,practitioners, promoters and educators. At a regional conference in Washington State in spring of 2009,PNBI organizers and others volunteered to take a leadership role in establishing sustainability guidelines for thebiochar community in the United States. This was in response to a strongly stated need to advance sustainabilityhand-in-hand with biochar practices.PNBI’s recommended sustainability guidelines referred to other existing guidelines (paying particular attentionto the comprehensive work done by Sustainable Biofuel Alliance) as well as developing their own innovations.Arguably, these guidelines offer the most comprehensive framework applicable to biochar production than anyothers identified to date. The intent is to have these protocols further developed and adopted by the emergingUnited States Biochar Initiative (USBI).Biochar sustainability in: Biochar and Sustainable Practices47