HER MAJESTY, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of British Columbia, enacts as follows:

Agricultural Land Commission Act

1 Section 1 of the Agricultural Land Commission Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 36 is amended by adding the following definitions:

"afforestation" means the act of establishing a forest on agricultural reserve lands;

"carbon sequestration program" means a program whereby carbon dioxide is captured from the atmosphere and stored for the purposes of creating carbon credits to be held or sold; .

2 Section 19 of the Act is amended by striking out "or" at the end of paragraph (a) and by adding "or" at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following:

(c) accept applications for covenants created for the purpose of carbon sequestration programs.

3 Section 22 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

(3) For greater clarity, covenants created for the purpose of a carbon sequestration program restrict or prohibit the use of agricultural land for farm purposes.

4 The Act is amended by adding the following section:

Afforestation application

25.1  (1) Owners of agricultural reserve land must submit an application for approval by the commission for afforestation of agricultural reserve land for the purposes of carbon sequestration programs.

(2) On application for permission for afforestation, the commission has the authority to do one of the following:

(a) grant the application;

(b) deny the application.

5 Section 27 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsection:

(1.1) Despite subsection (1), the chief executive officer does not have the authority to approve applications which, directly or indirectly, relate to afforestation in a carbon sequestration program.

 
Consequential Amendment

Land Title Act

6 Section 219 of the Land Title Act, R.S.B.C. 1996, c. 250 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(15) A covenant on agricultural reserve land which has been afforested for the purposes of a carbon sequestration program has no force and effect unless it has been approved by the Agricultural Land Commission under section 22 (3) of the Agricultural Land Commission Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 36.

 
Explanatory Note

This Bill requires owners of agricultural reserve lands to seek permission of the Agricultural Land Commission if they wish to operate an afforestation carbon off-set program. This Bill also grants the Agricultural Land Commission authority to decide if applications for carbon off-set programs are in the best interest of agriculture.