FORESTRY CDM PROJECTS

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FORESTRY CDM PROJECTS

• NH PONOYI
• 09/09/2009

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Outline

• Background
• Conditions for afforestation/reaforestation
• Designing CDM projects
• Mitigation options
• Concerns

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Background

• Created by Article 12 of Kyoto Protocol
• Establishes means by which industrialized
  countries pursue climate mitigation projects
• Aims to assist non-Annex I Parties in achieving
  sustainable development

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Legislative framework

• National Water Act (Act 36 of 1998) water use
  licence
• Conservation of Agricultural Resources Act (Act
  43 of 1983) combating invasive plants
• National Environmental Management Act (Act of 107
  of 1998) sustainable development

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Afforestation /Reforestation CDM

• Must result in carbon credits that are
  effectively permanent in addition to usual
  business
• Must not lead to losses outside project
  boundaries
• Factors for consideration

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1.Leakage

• Relate to activities that may lead to reduced
  sequestration or increased emissions outside the
  project boundary
• Leakage might due to
• - displacement of agric. activities,
• - displacement of fuel-wood collection
• - fossil fuel use

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2.Baseline
Carbon stocks
Project Scenario (observable)
Additional carbon removed from atmosphere
Baseline scenario
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3. Additionality

• CDM project is additional if net GHG removals by
  sinks are increased above changes in carbon
  stocks within project boundaries, that would have
  occurred in the absence of the CDM project
• Viability

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4. Validation

• Aspects for consideration
• - project design
• - baseline assessment
• - sequestration calculations
• - monitoring plan and
• - socio-economic impacts

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Ways of increasing carbon sequestration

• Protection of degraded forests to allow them to
  regenerate
• Restoration of indigenous forests
• Establishment of plantations on currently
  non-forested lands and
• Increasing the tree cover on agricultural and
  pasture lands

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Forestry based mitigation options

• Stopping the loss of existing forests
• Adding to the planets vegetative cover
• Increasing the carbon stored in carbon reservoirs
  such as agricultural soils and wood products
• Substituting sustainable biomass energy sources
  for fossil fuel consumption

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Designing forestry based CDM projects

• 5 variables to be considered
• Project to have greenhouse gas benefits and will
  persist over a long term
• Addressing the potential leakage of the projects
  carbon benefits
• Accurately quantifying the carbon benefits of the
  project
• Ability to design an effective monitoring and
  verification strategy
• Illustrating the magnitude and type of project
  co-benefits

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Methodology

• applicable for a proposed A/R project activity on
  degraded and degrading abandoned land.
• eligibility of land as an A/R CDM project
  activity is demonstrated using archives and/or
  maps of land use/cover and/or satellite image
  before the start of the A/R CDM project activity

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Methodology cont.

• A supplementary survey of land use is used in
  cases where land cover alone is not sufficient to
  distinguish between forest and non-forest

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Methodology cont.

• Baseline approach consider historic land
  use/cover changes, national, local and sectoral
  policies that influence land use within the
  boundary of the proposed A/R CDM project
  activity, economical attractiveness of the
  project relative to the baseline, and barriers
  for implementing project activities in absence of
  CDM finance.

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Approve Methodologies

• Restoration of degraded lands
• Restoration through A/R
• A/R through tree planting, assisted natural
  regeneration control of animal grazing
• Simplified baseline and monitoring methodology

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Bali Roadmap AR - CDM

• COP requested Parties, intergovernmental
  organisations NGOs to assess implications of
  changing the limit for AR-CDM projects from 8kt
  CO2 per annum.
• Limit viewed as not economically feasible
  prevents implementation
• Parties agreed to increase the limit to 16 kilo
  tones per annum

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Concerns in forestry for mitigation

• Forestry projects will impede socio-economic
  development in developing countries
• Impede actual emission reductions interfere
  with technology transfer objectives
• Biotic offsets involve more complex analytical
  issues than do energy and other GHG offsets,
  including monitoring and compliance issues.

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Conclusion

• Forest restoration can potentially play a key
  role in mitigating climate change, conserving
  biodiversity and improving livelihoods
• There is still an urgent need to transform this
  into action on-the-ground
• Action projects and pilots will help shape the
  future, by testing methodologies, setting
  standards and demonstrating emissions reductions
  potential.

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Publications

• Capturing the value of forest carbon for local
  livelihoods. Centre for International Forestry
  Research, Indonesia.
• Guidebook for the formulation of afforestation
  and reaforestation projects under the Clean
  Development Mechanism. Technical series 25, 2006.
• Programme on forests. Innovative forest financing
  options and issues. Working draft, 1999
• Powell, M., Mills, A., and Marais, C., undated.
  Carbon sequestration and restoration challenges
  and opportunities in subtropical thicket.

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The end