18 August 2010 | Luca Del Buono
Biodiversity, Carbon, Forestry and wood products, Legislation

 

A carbon accounting technique aimed at saving tropical forests has passed its first two formal audits, strengthening the chance that it could lead to the development of a potential multi-billion dollar market for forest carbon offsets.

If fully verified, the technique could then be utilized within the reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) scheme, the UN-backed carbon cutting project.

US firm Terra Global Capital has announced that it has passed the first two of the formal audits of the benchmark Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) a quality standard for the voluntary carbon offsetting industry based on Kyoto's Clean Development Mechanism.

Leslie Durschinger, founder and managing director of Terra Global Capital, said in a statement, "The methodology is expected to be broadly applicable where mosaic patterns of deforestation occur throughout Southeast Asia and Africa." Ms Durschinger's firm offers finance and advisory services for REDD projects.

In recent years it has been estimated that deforestation and forest degradation accounts for 20-25% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions - higher than that of the transportation sector.

The REDD scheme is a set of steps designed to use financial incentives to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation but it is still a relatively young initiative. It aims to preserve remaining tracts of forest in developing countries in order to allow them to continue absorbing large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Carbon accounting and monitoring is vital to ensure that not only are forests intact but also that they are locking away huge levels of CO2. Without such techniques the REDD project would be unable to function.

Affluent, developed nations are encouraged to purchase REDD credits and thus help developing nations to utilize the funding by undertaking measures to reduce deforestation.

Mosaic REDD aims to work alongside local communities in order to save forests from threats such as logging, fuel wood collection and conversion to farmland. Carbon reductions need to be recorded and measured in order to reassure investors of the environmental benefits.

Terra Global Capital has announced that the new technique was established for its Cambodia REDD project in northwestern Oddar Meanchey province - involving some 13 community project groups alongside 58 villages.

The overall aim of the government-backed project is to protect nearly 70,000 hectares of forest and generate 1.7 million carbon offsets over 30 years. In return, forest community members are given employment, ownership of the land and at least half of the income from the sale of carbon credits.

REDD has established dozens of development schemes in a wide range of developing regions but each project must meet rigorous standards under Washington-based VCS aimed at making the carbon offset schemes credible and transparent to investors.

Developed nations, including the US, Japan and Norway have set aside billions of dollars in order to help develop REDD - including the recent $1 billion forest deal between Norway and Indonesia and a partnership between an Australian carbon services firm and the Indonesian island of Halmahera in the Moluccas.

Shift2Neutral recently announced a deal with tribal leaders in Malaysia covering certification of credits from 159,000 hectares of forest land involving some 163,000 people.

Chairman Brett Goldsworthy said, "The logging issue is paramount as the area is under threat and the villages need to have an alternative, plus a major mining group is there and will be held to account to ensure the environment is not jeopardized."

 

Author: Tom Watts | Climate Action

Images: tauntingpanda | Flickr 

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