Read the following passage carefully:
Under the 2026 National Urban Forestry and Carbon Credits Standard, metropolitan municipalities issuing certified carbon offset units for urban canopy preservation must conduct bi-annual lidar biomass audits. The framework stipulates that only municipalities maintaining a contiguous forest canopy area of at least 500 hectares, with a minimum native tree species diversity index of 0.65, are eligible to trade offsets on the National Environmental Exchange. If a registered municipality experiences a canopy loss exceeding 5 percent within any single reporting year, its carbon trading privileges are automatically suspended for twenty-four months unless the deficit is remediated through accelerated afforestation within six months of audit publication. Furthermore, private landholders contributing private woodlots to the municipal carbon pool receive proportional municipal tax rebates only if their parcels remain under binding conservation covenants for at least fifteen consecutive years. Municipalities with less than 500 hectares of canopy may merge their forestry assets into regional consortiums, but such consortiums are barred from trading until all participating municipalities individually meet the native species diversity threshold.
Based strictly on the passage above, evaluate the following statement:
A regional forestry consortium possessing a combined canopy area of 600 hectares is permitted to trade carbon offsets on the National Environmental Exchange even if one of its participating member municipalities has a native species diversity index below 0.65.
Answer: Answer