 |
Vol. 2, No. 4: May 29, 2007
|
The Ecosystem Marketplace's Community Forum
Connecting people to ecosystem markets
Welcome to the Community Forum Newsletter!
Are payments for carbon offset projects working for communities? In this edition of the Community Forum, we examine three different aspects of this question. From within the United States, we focus on how the mainstream media is covering these projects. On the international scale, we look at one program that attempts to insert social goals into the process of certification of carbon offset projects. Finally, from Mexico, we track the ten-year story of forest communities that have attempted to access the carbon market and the challenges they have faced in doing so. In our Profiles section, we focus on Karen and John Lewis and their attempts to include local communities in the benefits of ecotourism in Costa Rica. Lastly, in our Resources and Tools section, we provide links to two documents you can use to persuade people that PES is a viable conservation solution – a comic book for community level practitioners, and a report on the connection between poverty alleviation and ecosystem services for policymakers.
We hope you enjoy this issue of the Community Forum! In the next issue, we plan to focus on projects that push the boundaries of how payment for ecosystem service projects are defined. Please email us at communityforum@ecosystemmarketplace.com if you have any information you would like to see featured in the next edition.
Please help us get the word out about the Community Forum by sharing
it with your friends and networks. To spread the word, click the
forward this email link at the bottom of this page.
– Elizabeth Shapiro, Community Forum
For comments or questions, please email: communityforum@ecosystemmarketplace.com
Sign-up for the Tropical American and East & Southern Africa Katoomba Group Newsletters
The Katoomba Group is working through two distinct regional groups, East and Southern Africa and Tropical America, to build capacity with diverse groups of stakeholders and support the development of PES activities in these regions. If you are interested in learning more about the Katoomba Group’s activities in either region or would like to sign-up for the listserv and receive a periodic newsletter, please contact Alice Ruhweza (aruhweza@forest-trends.org) for East and Southern Africa or Carina Bracer (cbracer@forest-trends.org) / Rachel Miller (rmiller@forest-trends.org) for Tropical America.
|
|
|
|
United States – The New York Times Takes on the Carbon Market
The New York Times is one of the most respected and influential newspapers in the United States, so it is good news for anyone interested in selling carbon credits that the publication is covering carbon offsetting as a potentially viable solution to curb global warming. In an article published on May 8, "Sale of Carbon Credits Helping Land-Rich, but Cash-Poor, Tribes," The Times profiled an offset project brokered by the National Carbon Offset Coalition and implemented by the Nez Perce tribe of Idaho. The project is part of a "carbon portfolio" that includes reforestation projects by a number of US Indian tribes. The article quotes both brokers and buyers of carbon offsets who say they view the projects as more secure because they are being implemented on communally held land, which is less likely to be sold or developed, and because there is a pre-existing skill base for sustainable management.
While this should please organizers of community carbon projects, The Times also analyzed some risks of the voluntary carbon market in a recent article from April 29, 2007, "Carbon-Neutral is Hip, but Is It Green?" Based in part on a recently published evaluation of the retail voluntary carbon market, "A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon-Offset Providers," it generally supported the idea of a voluntary market while stressing the need for greater regulation and increased action on the part of individual consumers to cut their carbon emissions in other ways. The Financial Times and Business Week also recently published articles which discuss the risks of the voluntary carbon market.
– Read the New York Times article on the Nez Perce
– The National Carbon Offset Coalition website
– Read the New York Times article on the Carbon Credits
– Read the Financial Times article
– Read the Business Week article
– A Consumer's Guide to Retail Carbon-Offset Providers
Panama & China - The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance Certifies First Two Projects
The Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA), an international collaboration between businesses, non-profit organizations and research institutes, has developed a set of standards to certify carbon offset projects. As the name suggests, the CCB certification focuses on the potential of a proposed project to succeed in three key areas – climate change mitigation, positive social impact at a local level, and biodiversity conservation. Projects that also demonstrate the potential to use primarily native species, enhance water and soil resources, build community capacity, and adapt to climate change and climate variability can receive the CCBA’s Silver or Gold level of certification. There is some cost related to the independent certification process, but the CCBA has stated that they will accept various types of evaluation. The ultimate motive of the CCBA is to make projects that produce carbon credits more credible and transparent to buyers on the voluntary carbon market by providing independent, third party certification.
In February 2007, the first two projects were certified under the CCB, both receiving the highest (gold) level of certification. The first project, located in Panama, is an initiative run by the non-profit CO2OL – USA and the Panamanian company Futuro Forestal. The project proposes to sequester carbon by establishing biodiverse forest plantations on what are currently low productivity grasslands. The second, the Tengchong project in China, is jointly sponsored by China’s State Forestry Administration, Conservation International and The Nature Conservancy, and focuses on creating a forested buffer zone for the Gaoligongshan Nature Reserve. Both projects have also applied for certification under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) standards. Having both CCB and CDM certification will smooth the way for marketing carbon offset credits on both the voluntary AND regulatory markets.
Contact: Toby Janson-Smith, Director, Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance, info@climate-standards.org
– Download CCBA's certification standards
– CO2OL – USA project website (Panama)
– Read an article on the Tengchong project (China)
Mexico – Does the Carbon Market Penalize Communities with Good Forest Management?
The non-governmental organization Estudios Rurales y Asesoria (ERA) of the state of Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico has over a decade of experience evaluating and creating payment for ecosystem service projects. In 1996, they worked with two community forestry organizations to evaluate the potential to market the carbon sequestered by their forests. The primary conclusion of the study was that it would be necessary to join forces with other groups in order to have sufficient carbon to appeal to the international market. In 2000, the community forestry organizations joined with two statewide coffee growers associations and a couple of non-governmental organizations to form the coalition, Environmental Services of Oaxaca (SAO). In an evaluation of this process, Yolanda Lara, Director of ERA, said that it became clear that the member organizations already involved in sustainable forest management were at a disadvantage in marketing their carbon because they could not demonstrate "additionality." In other words, the way that those organizations were already managing their forests sequestered so much carbon that they could not prove, even by changing their management practices, that enough additional carbon offset credits would be produced to make it worth their while. The coffee associations, on the other hand, whose members had a poor record of forest management, were much better positioned to take advantage of the carbon market. As a result of these conclusions, ERA began to work with the forestry-based communities to examine the possibility of marketing other ecosystem services produced as the result of their sustainable management practices. ERA is currently involved in two projects positioning these communities as providers of watershed services to the downstream city of Oaxaca de Juarez. The project is implemented jointly with a program of the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point to train community members in watershed management and the reduction of surface water run-off contamination. They have also found a way to market the rich levels of biodiversity in the region through "educational tourism", and have formed agreements with a number of educational institutions to provide sites for research trips and school visits. Though the communities involved have not given up on the possibility of eventually selling carbon offset credits, they are exploring many other options for marketing their ecosystem services.
Contact: Yolanda Lara, Director ERA
– University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point's Description of the watershed project
– Read a description of the NGO Environmental Services of Oaxaca
México – ¿El Mercado para Carbono Castiga las Comunidades con Buen Manejo Forestal?
La organización no-gubernamental, Estudios Rurales y Asesoria (ERA) del estado de Oaxaca la región suroeste de México tiene más que una década de experiencia con la evaluación y creación de proyectos de pago por servicios ambientales. En 1996, ellos trabajaban con dos organizaciones forestales comunitarias para evaluar el potencial de venta del carbono capturado por sus bosques. La conclusión primaria del estudio fue que para capturar suficiente carbono para ser atractiva al mercado internacional, seria necesario juntar esfuerzos con otros grupos. En 2000, las organizaciones de forestaría comunitaria juntaron con dos asociaciones cafetaleros de nivel del estado y dos más organizaciones no-gubernamentales para crear la coalición, Servicios Ambientales de Oaxaca (SAO). Según una evaluación de este proceso escrito por Yolanda Lara, Directora de ERA, volvió ser muy claro que los miembros de SAO quienes ya estuvieron manejando sus bosques de una manera sustentable tuvieron una desventaja en el mercado para carbono porque no pudieron probar "adicionalidad". Con otras palabras, la manera en que ellos ya estuvieron manejando sus bosques estaba capturando tanto carbono que ellos no pudieron probar que, aunque cambiaron sus prácticas, suficiente créditos de "offsets" de carbono sea capturado para que vale la pena. Al otro lado, las asociaciones de cafetaleros, quienes miembros tuvieron una historia de mal manejo de sus bosques, tuvieron una posición más favorable para aprovechar del mercado para carbono. Como resultado de estas conclusiones, ERA empezó trabajar con las comunidades forestales para investigar la posibilidad de vender otros servicios ambientales. Ellos ya están involucrados con dos proyectos distintos para que las comunidades puedan proveer servicios hidrológicos a la gran ciudad de Oaxaca de Juarez, localizada en la parte baja de la cuenca. El programa es implementado en conjunto con un programa de la Universidad de Wisconsin – Stevens Point para capacitar miembros de la comunidad en el manejo de cuencas y para reducir la contaminación de agua superficial. Ellos también han encontrado como vender el nivel alto de biodiversidad de la región por "turismo educacional", formando contratos formales con algunas instituciones educacionales para proveer sitios para investigaciones y giras escolares al campo. Aunque las comunidades involucradas no han perdido la esperanza de, al fin, vender créditos de offset de carbono, ellos están investigando las muchas otras oportunidades de vender sus servicios de ecosistema.
Contacto: Yolanda Lara, Directora de ERA
– Evaluación histórica del proyecto de ERA
– Sitio de internet de ERA
|
|
|
Karen and John Lewis Bridge the Gap between Tourists and Local Communities in Costa Rica
The relationship between Karen and John Lewis and the communities in the area of the Osa Penninsula of Costa Rica where they hoped to build an eco-lodge started with a picnic. Fifteen years later, the Lapa Rios Lodge is not only a successful ecotourism operation, but is also a model for ensuring that local communities benefit from the introduction of tourism. People from the local communities have been involved with every stage of the development of the Lodge, from helping design the buildings in a way that used local, sustainable materials, to serving as guides and interpreters and providing 100% of the staffing. A big component of the Lapas Rio mission is to provide educational opportunities to community members, including staff training in basic literacy and hotel management, and providing funding and support for the construction of the local primary school. Lapa Rios also focuses educating their guests about both the environment and the communities. A community member was recently hired as a full-time sustainable development director whose primary responsibility it is to facilitate interactions between visitors and the local community. As Karen Lewis says, "Lapa Rios is a school for everyone." Read the complete interview to learn more about how all of this was accomplished.
Contact: Karen Lewis
– Read the full Ecosystem Marketplace article
– Lapa Rios Lodge website
|
|
|
The Conservation Business
by Henry Nicholls
This short but very thoughtful article provides a good summary of the various arguments for and against the use of direct monetary incentives for conservation. On one side are the arguments that paying people directly to conserve is the most efficient and effective means of spending scarce funding, as well as the most direct way of changing people’s behavior and ensuring that they benefit monetarily. On the other are various arguments that the process of ensuring long term, sustainable change requires more than just money changing hands in the short term, but must include a real change in people’s beliefs and culture, as well as profound changes in the structural issues that drive poverty. Using interviews with prominent thinkers on these subjects and drawing from such examples as ecotourism in the Galápagos and the payment for environmental service program in Costa Rica, the article is a thought provoking and worthwhile read for all of us in the business of conservation.
Contact: Henry Nicholls
– Read the full article
|
|
|
Community-Level Comic Book on PES
Having trouble explaining the concept of ecosystem services to the communities you work with? You are not alone. It is not necessarily an intuitive concept that forests sequester the carbon that causes global warming or that wetlands work to filter pollutants from our water supply. These ideas can be difficult to explain to anyone, but the difficulty is compounded when the people you are trying to reach have little formal education. Comic books can be a good means of reaching across these barriers – they are fun, get much of the message across graphically and use simple language. This comic book, created by Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Ecología and the Universidad Iberoamericana, aims to reach rural resource users who are the potential sellers of ecosystem services. It uses a story format to explain the basic concept of ecosystem services but also to explore themes such as the various pressures that cause people to deforest and how rural communities can access markets and influence policy makers. Though some of the context and language is specific to Mexico, this comic book could be easily used in other Spanish speaking countries or, if translated, in other countries as well. The organization Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental da Amazonia in Brazil is working with the Communities and Markets Program of Forest Trends to translate the comic book to Portuguese and adapt it to the Brazilian context.
Contact: Beto Borges
– Download the comic book (pdf - Spanish)
Libro de Caricaturas pare el Nivel Comunitario Sobre Pagos por Servicios Ambientales
¿Usted ha tenido problemas para explicar el concepto de servicios ambientales a las comunidades con quien trabaja? Usted no esta solo en tener este problema. No es necesariamente intuitivo comprender que los bosques capturan el carbono que causa el calentamiento global o que los humedales filtran los contaminantes de nuestra agua. Puede ser muy difícil explicar estas ideas a cualquiera persona, pero la dificultad esta multiplicada cuando las personas que se quiere enseñar son medio alfabetizadas o tiene muy poca educación formal. Libros de caricaturas puedan ser un modo para disminuir estas barreras – son chistosos, explican el mensaje gráficamente y ocupan vocabulario básico. Este libro de caricaturas, creado por el Instituto Nacional de Ecología y la Universidad Iberoamérica de México, es volcado a los usuarios rurales de recursos quienes son los vendedores potenciales de servicios ambientales. El libro ocupa un formato de cuenta para explicar el concepto de servicios de ecosistemas, pero además, para explorar temas como las presiones que impulse las personas a desmontar los bosques y como las comunidades rurales pueden acceder los mercados y influenciar los políticos. Aunque algo del contexto y idioma, es específica a México, este libro de caricaturas puedes servir fácilmente en otros países que hablan Español, o, si es traducido, en otros países también. La organización Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental de Amazonia de Brasil está trabajando en traducir el libro al Portugués y adaptarlo al contexto Brasileño.
– Bajar el libro de caricaturas (pdf)
Exploring the Link between Poverty and Ecosystem Services
This publication from the United Nations Environment Program covers much of the same ground as the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, but it has the advantage of being much shorter and more focused on the specific links between poverty alleviation and the production of ecosystem services. Both of these reasons make this publication a good choice for anyone hoping to convince a policy maker that, yes, working to conserve ecosystem services can be a strong step in the direction of combating poverty. The report also details case study reports of seven African nations including Kenya, Tanzania, Mauritania, Mali, Rwanda, Mozambique, and Uganda. Published in English, French and Portuguese.
– Download the final report
– Download the country case studies
Explorando el Vínculo entre la Pobreza y los Servicios de Ecosistemas
Esta publicación del Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Medio Ambiente trata de los mismos temas que la Evaluación de los Ecosistemas del Milenio (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment), pero tiene la ventaja de ser mucho más corta y tener un enfoque más directo en los vínculos entre el alivio de la pobreza y la producción de servicios de ecosistemas. Para ambos razones, esta publicación es una buena herramienta para convencer los políticos que trabajar para conservar servicios de ecosistemas pueda ser un modo útil para combatir la pobreza. El reporte contiene también descripciones de estudios de caso de siete naciones de África, incluyendo Kenia, Tanzania, Mauritania, Malí, Rwanda, Mozambique y Uganda. El reporte está escrito en Inglés, Francés y Portugués.
– Bajar el reporte final
– Bajar los estudios de caso de los siete países
OPPORTUNITIES
Call for Carbon Offset Projects for African Bankers' Carbon Finance Investment Forum
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Division of Technology, Industry and Economics, the UNEP Risoe Centre, and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) are convening an African Bankers' Carbon Finance Investment Forum, from May 28 to 30 in Johannesburg, South Africa at the DBSA headquarters in the Midrand. This is your exclusive chance to interact directly with leading financiers and to set a regional agenda for mainstreaming carbon finance into energy/infrastructure investment. As part of the Investment Forum, a deal-making platform will enable project developers "face time" to showcase their carbon offset projects to a select panel of leading banks and carbon investors.
Additional event information is available at www.carbonforum.co.za
For further information, please visit http://www.uneprisoe.org or read the flyer (pdf).
– Download the registration form (pdf)
|
|
|
|
|
|
Know someone who might be interested in the Ecosystem Marketplace and this newsletter?
|
|
|
|
|
