About the Conference

Forests of Central Appalachia are an important part of the region’s landscape, providing a range of economic, cultural benefits, ecological, and ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration. The region has the potential to contribute to national and global efforts to mitigate climate change through carbon programs and markets.

However, for the forest carbon market to offer synergistic advances in multiple sustainability goals, various stakeholders need to work together to direct this market in a direction that meets these goals and is based on research. There are political, economic, and social factors that influence whether forests are optimally managed for carbon in addition to the biological/ecological factors. Therefore, there is a need to convene diverse researchers and stakeholders to evaluate the current state of the science and economics of the forest carbon market, as well as the priorities for policymaking and landowner engagement.

Join 150-200 academics, extension agents, foresters, and other stakeholders for a multi-disciplinary and collaborative conference where we will discuss and synthesize the latest research, as well as current and emerging challenges, of the carbon market.

Over the course of two and a half days, we hope to:

1. Provide a platform for diverse perspectives and knowledge to be shared among the different researchers and stakeholders of the forest carbon market who may have differing viewpoints;
2. Highlight key uncertainties about the ecological, economic, and socio-political aspects of the forest carbon market, and synergistically publish a framework outlining the key challenges and the pathway to improvement of the forest carbon market.;

And post-conference, we aim to:

1. Create content (e.g., video recordings, short explainers, outreach bulletins, and training materials) for forest landowners and extension foresters in the region and beyond to learn about forest management and carbon market opportunities.
2. Publish a white paper on the needs in the region and recommendations for improvement.