Letter to the Editor: Response to, "Great Bear carbon offsets need scrutiny"

(This letter was submitted to The Vanouver Sun on February 5, 2013.)

 

MLA Bob Simpson’s editorial about Great Bear Forest Carbon shows once again a lack of understanding of offsets and his inaccuracies need addressing.

 

First, there is no “secrecy” here. Mr. Simpson has been provided with factual answers that responded to his questions. All that was kept back was commercially confidential information. 

 

Second, the GBR conservancies were not enshrined in law until 2009, when the participating First Nations signed land use agreements. For the First Nations communities to sign the 100-year agreements required for this kind of project, they needed assurance that other sources of income would flow to their communities to provide revenue that supported their conservation efforts.

 

Finally, the PCT is not the only buyer of offsets from the Great Bear Forest. My company has sold them to a number of other private sector buyers and continues to market them around the world.

 

Despite our best efforts with Mr. Simpson, he and others like him are resistant to all the facts we have presented and to the third party assurance provided by validators and verifiers.  

Dr. James Tansey,

CEO, Offsetters