Environmental Minister Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) informed the Legislature on Thursday that the logging ban compensation for lands reserved for Indigenous peoples will be included in carbon offset calculations. He said that as current regulations make it difficult for state-owned land to obtain carbon rights, he will discuss the matter further across relevant ministries.
The Legislature recently passed a bill that increases the logging ban compensation value from NT$30,000 (US$930) per hectare to NT$60,000 (US$1860) per hectare. However, whether these areas can be included in the carbon offset calculation, allowing aboriginal tribes to participate in carbon trading, remains unclear.
Registering carbon sinks enables compensation to be calculated based on the annual amount of forest growth. The Environment Ministry's Climate Change Administration Director-General Tsai Lin-yi (蔡玲儀) said that to date, only one forest carbon sink application registration has been approved.
KMT Legislator Lu Hsien-Yi (盧縣一) pointed out that the Climate Change Response Act clearly stipulates that the government must work with aboriginal peoples to promote and manage natural carbon sinks in Indigenous areas, enabling them to share in the rights and interests of their land.
Peng explained that under current regulations, only 100 hectares of land qualify for inclusion and that a set of standards for the identification of qualifying land must be developed before they can proceed. He assured the Legislature that negotiations with the Agriculture Ministry and the Council of Indigenous Peoples are underway.