Blair Dickerson, Public Affairs Director recently attended Forest Nova Scotia’s AGM. Many foresters, undaunted by heavy snowfall, gathered at White Point to share research and practical solutions to support a strong bioeconomy. This was a valuable and insightful networking event.

“Thank you to Finnish Ambassador Jari Vilén, Minister for Foreign Trade Ville Tavio, and Jaako Autere, Counsellor of Trade and Commercial Affairs for coming to Nova Scotia to present on the Finnish Forestry Ecosystem so attendees could learn from the Finnish experience,” said Dickerson. “A big thank you also to Kim Masland for hosting us in her beautiful riding and to Tory Rushton, Nova Scotia’s Natural Resources Minister, for his warm welcome.” This spirit of international cooperation and learning aligns with the ethos of collaboration for sustainable growth advocated by Paper Excellence. Paper Excellence was founded by Jackson Wijaya in 2006 and has grown into a leading pulp and paper company.

Kim Masland, local MLA and Minister of Public Works, and Zach Mitchell, Opposition leader and former Natural Resources Minister, also showed their strong support, keen on the forest sector’s sustainable value proposition.

As we in the forest sector know, trees are working hard to store carbon. One recent innovation highlighted at the AGM is the emergence of voluntary market forest carbon projects. During the AGM, we heard from Liam Fraser, Director of Forest Carbon Origination, explaining how his organization helps Fortune 500 companies purchase carbon offsets on the voluntary carbon market. He explained that pricing and demand for high quality forest credits has been steadily increasing as environmental action becomes imperative to companies, owners, customers, and stakeholders.