Photo: Black-eyed Leaf Frog (Agalychnis moreletii) – Sierra Santa Cruz, Guatemala. Credit: Ivan Castro.
The Carbon Balanced Paper logo now appears on printed materials from more than 50 North American brands, including publishers, printers and catalog retailers.
What the logo represents
The Carbon Balanced Paper logo indicates that the carbon impact associated with the registered paper or paper-based packaging has been calculated and balanced through the World Land Trust Carbon Balanced program. The unique number displayed with the logo links it to the paper registration.
The current Carbon Balanced Paper North America program identifies projects in Mexico, Uganda and Guatemala. These projects use two complementary approaches: protecting existing carbon-rich habitat from loss and restoring degraded landscapes so that ecological function and carbon storage can recover.
Paper and paper-based packaging buyers can specify Carbon Balanced Paper through participating distributors, including Midland Paper and WCP Solutions in the United States or directly via Carbon Balanced Paper North America. Their purchases contribute to the funding mechanism that supports the conservation program.
Why forest protection is about more than carbon
Forests remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and store carbon in living biomass, dead organic matter and soils. Avoiding deforestation can therefore prevent stored carbon from being released, while forest regeneration can increase carbon uptake over time.
But carbon is only one measure of ecological value. Forests provide habitat for a large share of terrestrial biodiversity and support processes such as water regulation, soil protection, nutrient cycling, pollination and seed dispersal. Habitat quality and connectivity also matter: a fragmented forest may contain trees and carbon while providing poorer conditions for species that require large territories or movement between populations.
Mexico: Carbon uptake in a biodiverse cloud-forest landscape
In Mexico, the Sierra de Xilitla project protects and regenerates forest associated with the Sierra Gorda landscape. Natural regeneration is estimated to sequester about 13,800 tonnes of CO2e annually.
The ecological importance of the landscape is equally notable. The neighboring Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve supports more than 100 mammal species and all six cat species found in Mexico: Jaguar, Puma, Bobcat, Margay, Ocelot and Jaguarundi. More than 340 bird species have been recorded, including threatened species such as the Bearded Wood-Partridge, Red-crowned Amazon and Maroon-fronted Parrot. The region also supports threatened salamanders and a high diversity of butterflies.
This is a useful example of why carbon and biodiversity should be considered together. Regenerating native forest increases carbon storage, but it also expands and improves habitat within a biologically rich landscape.
Guatemala: The value of keeping mature forest standing
The Conservation Coast project in Guatemala illustrates a different conservation strategy: avoiding the loss of existing forest. The project protects a mosaic of lowland forest, wetlands, mangroves and lagoons along the Caribbean coast. Carbon Balanced Paper North America reports 133,827 acres (54,158 hectares) under protection and an estimated 728,000 tonnes of CO2e emissions from deforestation avoided each year.
The same landscape supports approximately 359 bird species and more than 126 mammal species. These include Baird’s Tapir, Jaguar, West Indian Manatee and Neotropical Otter.
Protecting mature forest is important because ecological complexity cannot be recreated quickly. A newly planted forest may accumulate carbon, but an established tropical forest also contains developed soils, old trees, cavities, understory communities, fungi, insects and complex food webs. Preventing its loss protects both an existing carbon stock and an existing biological community.
Uganda: Restoring connectivity in the Albertine Rift
In Uganda, the Trees for Global Benefits program works with farmers on native-tree planting and agroforestry within the wider Albertine Rift landscape. Restoration can help reduce pressure on remaining natural forest and improve connections between fragmented forest areas.
The Bugoma-Budongo forest corridor is exceptionally diverse. Project information reports that the wider landscape contains about 52% of Africa’s bird species, 19% of its amphibians, 14% of its reptiles and 14% of its plant species. It is also important primate habitat, including Chimpanzees and Blue, Red-tailed and Black-and-white Colobus Monkeys.
Connectivity is a fundamental conservation issue. Small isolated populations can become more vulnerable when animals cannot move between habitat patches. Restoring forest in the right places can create corridors that improve access to food and breeding habitat while the growing trees simultaneously remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
A forest is more than a collection of species
Large mammals and threatened birds make biodiversity loss easier to visualize, but they are only a small part of a functioning forest. Protecting habitat for a Jaguar, tapir or Chimpanzee also protects plants, insects, fungi, amphibians, reptiles and microorganisms, along with the ecological relationships among them.
This is one reason habitat-based conservation is important. Rather than attempting to protect species individually, maintaining sufficiently large, connected and functioning ecosystems can benefit many species at the same time while preserving carbon stocks and other ecosystem services.
The scientifically important outcome is the conservation work the funding helps support: existing forests kept intact, degraded habitat restored, wildlife corridors improved, carbon emissions from forest loss avoided, and additional carbon removed as forests regenerate.
Seen in that context, the logo is a visible link between a paper purchasing decision and measurable work to protect forests, carbon stores and biodiversity.
For more information, email us at info@carbonbalancedpaperna.com.
