Who Gets to Decide the Fate of a Pristine Alaskan Rainforest? - Yale E360

Nature & Climate Perspective

**The potential land transfer and subsequent clear-cutting of pristine Alaskan rainforest threaten crucial carbon sinks, endemic biodiversity, and regional LULUCF ecological integrity. **

• Commercial logging risk in intact temperate old-growth rainforest jeopardizes vital habitats for vulnerable flora and fauna, degrading biodiversity resilience.
• Deforestation would convert a key long-term terrestrial carbon sink into a net emission source, compromising baseline sequestration potential under LULUCF accounting.
• Large-scale land-use alteration weakens regional watershed stabilization, soil retention, and climate adaptation capacities in coastal forest biomes.

Market & Policy Outlook

**Contested legislative land transfers highlight systemic tensions between indigenous land ownership rights, timber extraction, and ICVCM additionality and permanence principles. **

• Legislative shifts transferring federal public lands to Native corporations disrupt established regional conservation policies and risk violating Article 6 regulatory alignments.
• Potential timber development reduces the feasibility of high-integrity Avoided Unplanned Deforestation carbon projects by eroding ICVCM CCP baseline additionality and permanence guarantees.
• Corporations seeking Scope 3 or SBTi net-zero alignment face elevated supply chain and carbon offset reputational risks associated with contested indigenous land rights and deforested landscapes.