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Vol.
1, No. 5: December 4, 2006
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The Ecosystem Marketplace's Community Forum
Connecting people to ecosystem markets
In honor of the United Nations Climate Change Conference that took place recently in Nairobi, Kenya, this edition of the Community Forum is dedicated to profiling community-based carbon offset projects. In our Around the World section, we feature five carbon sequestration projects that are being implemented at different scales, selling to various carbon markets. Our Profile in this edition is of Wangari Maathai and Wangira Mathai, whose Kenya-based Green Belt Movement recently signed a contract to sell carbon offset credits to the World Bank BioCarbon Fund. In the Viewpoint section, you will find a report on the results of the UN Climate Change Conference and a copy of a speech given by Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima, a community leader from South Africa expressing his thoughts on payments for ecosystem services. Lastly, in our Resources and Tools Section, we provide links to a number of guides and manuals for those of you interested in implementing and finding markets for carbon offset projects.
Though the solutions to reversing climate change must take many forms in order to succeed, carbon sequestration through payment for ecosystem service projects are one step in the right direction. We hope that you will find information in this volume of the Ecosystem Marketplace's Community Forum that will help broaden your understanding of the types of community-based carbon offset programs currently being implemented and give you some tools to implement your own.
Missing the Previous Edition of the Community Forum?
Due to a technical glitch in our system, the previous edition of the Community Forum, No. 4, did not get sent out to our email listserv. That edition featured examples of a number of community-based projects that challenge the definition of payments for ecosystem services. If you are interested in reading edition No. 4, please click here.
See Your Project Featured in the Community Forum
Link the communities you work with to the community of people around the globe involved in implementing payment for ecosystem services projects. The Community Forum is looking for projects to feature in our Around the World section of the newsletter and on our website. Gain recognition for your project and join in a dialogue with others worldwide by sending a short paragraph describing the project to: communityforum@ecosystemmarketplace.com. We will then ask for a more detailed description from those projects we select to feature in the Community Forum.
We hope you enjoy this edition of the Ecosystem Marketplace's Community Forum.
– Elizabeth Shapiro
For comments or questions, please email: communityforum@ecosystemmarketplace.com
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India – From Hobbits to Soccer Fans: Everybody's Buying Carbon Credits
With climate change beginning to make front page news on a daily basis, it has become a popular option to offset green house gas emissions by buying carbon credits. When the organizers of this years' World Cup games in Germany and celebrities such as Dominic Monaghan, who played one of the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings movies, decided that they wanted to buy carbon credits, they looked to such programs as the Carbon Neutral Company and Plan Vivo. One of the very high profile projects to benefit from these sales is run by the Indian non-profit, Women for Sustainable Development. The project works with communities in southern Indian to plant mango orchards and woodlots to sequester carbon, and to construct biogas plants fueled by cow dung, which reduce green gas emissions. All of these activities are translated into carbon offset credits and sold to fund further projects. Though the project has not been without its critics, many see the community and global level benefits from the project, as well as the enthusiasm for the voluntary carbon market that supports it, as steps in the right direction.
Contact Anandi Sharan Meili at anandi@climateindia.com for further information on the Women for Sustainable Development project.
Mexico – A Coalition of Indigenous Communities and Non-Profit Organizations Join Forces to Market Environmental Services
The state of Oaxaca is known in Mexico for the strength of its indigenous communities and the number and competence of its non-profit environmental organizations. In 1996, an Oaxacan non-profit, Estudios Rurales y Asesoria, conducted a study with two indigenous community organizations to analyze the carbon sequestration potential of their forests. The results of the study showed that no single community organization could generate enough carbon offset credits to qualify under the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol policies of the time. In 2000, these organizations joined with other community-based environmental organizations in the state to form the non-profit, Environmental Services of Oaxaca (SAO, for its acronym in Spanish). The main goals of the new non-profit were to coordinate natural resource management projects between the partner organizations and to promote and sell the environmental services produced. So far, SAO and its partner communities and organizations have secured funding for forest management, reforestation, and shade coffee plantation improvement projects through both the Mexican Forest Fund, for carbon sequestration and hydrological services, and the Scolel Té program for carbon sequestration. With the possibility of including the forest land of the many member communities and the experience they have built in managing carbon sequestration project, SAO is currently working towards applying for the Clean Development Mechanism program.
Contact Carlos Marcelo Pérez Gónzalez, director of Environmental Services of Oaxaca (SAO), at seram_oax@yahoo.com.mx for further information.
Ecuador – Controversy over the Social and Environmental Impacts of a Carbon Sequestration Project
In a report (pdf) published in 2005, the non-profit organization, Acción Ecológica, evaluated a carbon sequestration payment for environmental service project, PROFAFOR, that had been implemented in the Andean and coastal regions of Ecuador. The program, funded by the Dutch FACE Foundation, was first implemented in conjunction with the Ecuadorian Ministry of the Environment in 1994. The report openly criticizes the project for what it claims are the negative environmental impacts of establishing plantations of exotic tree species in native grassland ecosystems. It also criticizes the program's social impact, stating that the amount paid to communities by the FACE Foundation for carbon sequestration rights of the plantations established on communal land are not sufficient to cover the cost of the labor communities must invest in management activities. In contrast, an article (pdf) published last year in the journal World Development, that also analyzed the social impact of PROFAFOR and other payment for ecosystem service programs in Latin America, found that the program, while perhaps lacking in some aspects, did have a moderately beneficial impact in the poor communities where it was implemented.
Contact Patricia Granada of Acción Ecológica at verde@accionecologica.com for more information on their report.
West Africa – Opportunities for Carbon Sequestration Projects in West African Savannas
In a recent report presented at the World Congress of Soil Science, scientists from the Sequestration of Carbon in Soil and Biomass in West Africa (SOCSAB – WA) program detailed the work that they and others have done to analyze the possibility of implementing carbon sequestration projects in the West African savannas. Though there are currently three carbon sequestration credit projects in the pipeline for the West African region, none have yet been implemented. The research conducted by the group looked at the carbon sequestration potential of three improved farming methods: direct fertilization of soils with organic matter; soil conservation measures intended to increase soil organic matter; and the introduction of agroforestry systems. They found that while the introduction of soil conservation and agroforestry did significantly increased carbon sequestration, both of these methods faced cultural barriers at the local level and political barriers for inclusion in climate change programs such as the Clean Development Measure (CDM). They conclude by calling for a broader definition of the activities that will be recognized by the CDM and other climate change mitigation policies. Read the full report.
Contact Jean-Luc Chotte at Jean-Luc.Chotte@mpl.ird.fr for more information on the report.
Philippines – World Bank BioCarbon Fund Supports Watershed Management Project
The Laguna de Bay watershed in the Philippines is home to 13% of the country's population. Its forests, agricultural lands and watercourses are all heavily degraded. The Watershed Rehabilitation Project, funded through the World Bank BioCarbon Fund, promotes activities that will provide benefits at the local level with watershed restoration, and at the global level through associated carbon sequestration. The BioCarbon Fund project will be implemented with a number of community-based sub-projects that will focus on stream bank rehabilitation, reforestation of upland areas, and introduction of agroforesty systems. In order to overcome the high transaction costs of working with multiple communities, an umbrella organization, the Laguna Lake Development Authority, will serve as an intermediary between the World Bank and the many stakeholders. Though local labor will be used for the stream bank restoration and reforestation activities, only with the agroforestry program will individual landowners receive direct payment for carbon sequestered. The BioCarbon Fund program is part of a larger World Bank program in the region that has focused on strengthening institutions and community participation. Read the project report.
Contact the Laguna Lake Development Authority at llda@denr.gov.ph for more information.
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Family Tree: The Green Belt Movement's Wangari Maathai and Wanjira Mathai
by Cameron Walker
For nearly three decades, the Green Belt Movement (GBM) has worked to improve livelihoods in Kenya and its neighboring countries. The movement's founder, Wangari Maathai, was the first environmentalist to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Wanjira Mathai, Wangari's daughter, runs the movement's international relations and communications. Most recently, the World Bank BioCarbon fund has signed an emissions reduction purchase agreement with the GBM. The funds will be used for a payment for ecosystem service pilot project that will combine the GBM's thirty years of experience in sustainable development techniques with large scale funding from the sale of carbon credits. The Ecosystem Marketplace caught up with Mathai to learn about the mother-daughter team's pioneering work.
– Read the full article
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Grinding Progress on Climate Change Framework in Nairobi
by Amanda Hawn
The recent UN Climate Change Conference in Nairobi, Kenya may not have produced many concrete international agreements or policy changes. However, some of the main points of negotiation during the conference included improving developing country's access to carbon markets through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) and allowing avoided deforestation as an approved climate change mitigation strategy. That these issues are finally on the table is good news for anyone hoping to implement community-based carbon sequestration projects. The Ecosystem Marketplace filed a report on the early results of this year's conference. For background information on the conference and the issue of avoided deforestation, see the Ecosystem Marketplace's Getting Paid to Keep Trees Standing: A Next Step in Nairobi.
Can Payments for Ecosystem Services Contribute to the Improvement of Rural Livelihoods While Enhancing the Sustainable Management of Natural Resources?
by Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima
November of 2006 was a busy month for international discussions on payments for ecosystem services. While the delegates at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change were busy negotiating in Nairobi, Kenya, The Katoomba Group, and international consortium of organizations and individuals involved in payments for ecosystem services, held a conference in Cape Town, South Africa. The keynote speaker for the Katoomba conference was Chief Ngangomhlaba Matanzima, Chairperson of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders of Transkei, South Africa. The speech he delivered focuses on the different types of payments for ecosystem services and what he sees as the strengths and limitations for each in developing pro-poor programs. His words are well grounded and will serve as an inspiration to anyone involved in community-based payments for ecosystem services. Click here for the full speech.
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Guides for Measuring and Finding Markets for Sequestered Carbon
As climate change negotiations progress and the global market for carbon credits continues to grow, it is becoming more likely that community-based organizations will be able to enter the market. Many types of conservation projects, from soil conservation to forest management, sequester carbon. But how are such projects designed and monitored? And once the obstacles of capturing and measuring the carbon sequestered have been overcome, what is the best way to make links with markets? A number of guides and manuals have been developed specifically for use by community-based organizations interested in implementing these types of projects. The following is only a short list! The Community Forum will continue to provide links to these and other guides in future editions.
A Guide to Monitoring Carbon Storage in Forestry and Agroforestry Projects
by K.G. MacDicken
This guide from Winrock International very clearly outlines the steps and resources needed to complete an inventory of carbon storage in forest and agroforest systems and provides useful tips for ways of adapting these techniques according to the land use type to be measured. Forms that can be used to gather and organize data are found in an appendix.
– Download the PDF
Assessing Carbon Stocks and Modelling Win-Win Scenarios of Carbon Sequestration Through Land-Use Changes
by Raul Ponce-Hernandez
Though this manual from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is not as clearly written or organized as the Winrock guide, it does include important information about integrating assessments of carbon sequestration potential with analysis of various indicators of land degradation.
– Download the manual
Financing Options for Carbon Sequestration Projects under the Clean Development Mechanism
by Sandra Brown, Ian Noble, and Benoit Bosquet
This timely article clearly defines the three major markets for carbon sequestration credits. It is a must read for anyone wishing to understand the often confusing and ever-changing world of climate change policy and carbon markets.
– Download the PDF
Exploring the Market for Voluntary Carbon Offsets
by Nadaa Taiyab
The voluntary carbon market is currently the most accessible means for community-based organizations to sell carbon offset credits. This very well researched report answers such questions as where to find voluntary buyers of carbon credits, how much they are willing to pay, and the protocols available for verifying amount of carbon sequestered.
– Download the PDF
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