At first glance, the American Forest Foundation’s Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP) is a carbon program: family forest owners are paid to adopt practices such as longer harvest rotations, avoided conversion, and improved stewardship. But the same changes that increase carbon storage may also protect drinking water, improve air quality, support biodiversity, and strengthen landowner economics.
Beyond Carbon, a new report from the Sorenson Impact Institute and the American Forest Foundation, explores whether those co-benefits can be identified and ultimately valued in ways that expand the program’s impact and financing potential. Sorenson Impact Institute’s analysis identifies four promising pathways: water, public health, biodiversity, and landowner value. The findings raise a larger question: if healthier forests create value for utilities, municipalities, healthcare systems, conservation organizations, and landowners, could more of those beneficiaries have a role in sustaining them?
Looking Beyond Carbon
Carbon markets have helped create a financial case for forest conservation. But carbon captures only one piece of what healthy forests provide. The report explores how those additional benefits could create opportunities for water utilities, healthcare systems, municipalities, insurers, conservation organizations, and other potential funding partners.
Collaborating with the American Forest Foundation
The Sorenson Impact Institute partnered with the American Forest Foundation (AFF) to examine the broader environmental, social, and economic value generated through its Family Forest Carbon Program. AFF works with family forest owners to support sustainable forest management. Through FFCP, participating landowners receive annual carbon payments while adopting practices designed to increase carbon storage and improve forest health.
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