Category: Flagship 5: Climate change and adaptation opportunities in forests, trees and agroforestry

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  • New Policy Brief by our partner INBAR on bamboo in carbon markets

New Policy Brief by our partner INBAR on bamboo in carbon markets

Bamboo in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil. Photo by Neil Palmer/CIAT
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FTA communications

Originally published at INBAR’s website.

INBAR’s new policy brief summarises how to include bamboo forestry projects in carbon markets.

New INBAR Policy Brief on how to integrate bamboo forestry in carbon markets [PDF]
In recent years, planting trees has gained momentum as a way to combat climate change. Because they store carbon, forests contribute to reducing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As such, reforestation projects can be rewarded for ‘offsetting’ carbon, providing a possibly lucrative source of income to the project developers.

According to a recent survey, INBAR Member States are planning to restore 5.7 million hectares of land with bamboo by 2030, as a way to restore degraded soils and protect riverbanks – so why aren’t bamboo forestry projects included more often as offsets in international carbon markets?

Around the world, bamboo is being planted as a solution to restore degraded soils and protect riverbanks.

A new INBAR policy brief explains how to develop and register bamboo forestry projects, so they can be certified by carbon markets. Aimed at project developers and government actors, the brief encourages the inclusion of bamboo forestry projects in carbon offset schemes.

The main points of the report are:

  • More countries should be recognising bamboo’s contributions to climate change mitigation. Bamboo plants and durable products can store a lot of carbon: over a 30-year period, a plantation of giant bamboo and its harvested products can store 1.7 times the same amount of carbon as Chinese fir trees. As such, bamboo forests can be traded in carbon markets as ‘offsets’, as long as they are shown to lead to additional carbon being stored, or emissions avoided. Countries, particularly in tropical and subtropical areas where bamboo grows, should make efforts to include bamboo in national and international carbon markets, as well as their national climate strategies.
  • Because it is a grass, not a tree, bamboo requires different methods to measure carbon storage. Bamboo culms are hollow, and the relationship between bamboo’s diameter and height with its biomass (and related carbon storage) is different to that of trees. In addition, the denseness of several clumping bamboo species can make it impossible for surveyors to adequately measure the culms’ diameters. To solve this issue, INBAR’s 2019 Manual for Bamboo Forest Biomass and Carbon Assessment provides detailed guidelines for assessing and monitoring biomass and carbon changes in bamboo forests and plantations.
  • To be included in carbon markets, bamboo forestry projects must adhere to specific methodologies. There are a few existing methodologies which can certify bamboo forestry projects for a number of different carbon markets, including the Clean Development Mechanism, Verra and the Gold Standard: CDM AR-ACM 003, CDM AR-AMS 007, VCS VM 005, and VCS 007 REDD+MF version 1.6. The INBAR policy brief provides more information on each.
  • Further research is needed. Reforestation is not the only way bamboo can contribute to storing or reducing carbon emissions. More research is needed to explore how sustainable management of existing bamboo forests can improve their carbon storage. In addition, methodologies which help assess the carbon stored in durable bamboo products, and the emissions avoided by substituting more carbon-intensive materials with bamboo, would also help increase our understanding of how to scale up bamboo’s applications for climate-smart development.

The policy brief, ‘Integration of Bamboo Forestry into Carbon Markets’, can be read here. It can be cited as: King, C., van der Lugt, P., Thanh Long, T., Li, Y. (2021) Integration of Bamboo Forestry into Carbon Markets. INBAR: Beijing, China.

This article was produced by INBAR.

CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) is the world’s largest research for development program to enhance the role of forests, trees and agroforestry in sustainable development and food security and to address climate change. CIFOR leads FTA in partnership with ICRAF, the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, CATIE, CIRAD, INBAR and TBI. FTA’s work is supported by the CGIAR Trust Fund.

 

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  • Lessons learned from a decade of REDD+ in Guyana

Lessons learned from a decade of REDD+ in Guyana
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Guyana, meaning “land of water,” is one of the smallest, most densely forested countries in South America. It is also an important part of the Amazon biome. In 2009, the country made a landmark pact with Norway to maintain its low deforestation rates.

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  • Kenya has been trying to regulate the charcoal sector: why it’s not working

Kenya has been trying to regulate the charcoal sector: why it’s not working

Sale of charcoal in Nairobi, Kenya. CIFOR/Axel Fassio
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FTA communications

Originally posted on The Conversation

In Kenya, charcoal has met more than 70% of the domestic energy demand for cooking and heating over decades, and is a major source of livelihood for hundreds of thousands of people in rural areas.

Charcoal is produced by burning wood under limited supply of oxygen, a process known as carbonisation. This carbon rich product is produced in kilns. Most kilns used in Kenya – and Africa in general – are very inefficient. Almost 10 tonnes of wood are used to produce a tonne of charcoal, which is a 10% recovery rate. More modern and improved techniques and kilns – of various quality and cost – are being developed and promoted with recovery rates of more than 30%.

Most of this production takes place in forest rich rural areas. The charcoal is then transported to urban centres where it is sold to wholesalers, who then sell to retailers and vendors, who in turn sell to consumers in smaller quantities.

Pricing of charcoal is very location dependent. But it can cost up to US$23 per bag in Nairobi and most cities. Vendors sell in much smaller quantities – as small as 2kg packets.

Over the past 20 years, Kenya developed laws and policies with the hope of bringing the sector into the formal economy and reducing its environmental impacts. This was after rampant destruction of forests and a realization that what is not known cannot be regulated.

In 2018 the government imposed yet another ban on logging and timber harvesting, which is due to end this year. This ultimately prohibited production or transportation of charcoal in the country. This was followed by charcoal bans in some counties. In addition, inter-county transportation of charcoal was outlawed, though production for local use remained legal. Still, charcoal found its way to cities where demand is rising and there are no appropriate alternative options.

Thus the production and consumption of charcoal has continued. With limited enforcement capacity and compliance, it is clear wood fuel governance needs to be fundamentally rethought.

In our recent study we analyzed the governance of Kenya’s wood fuel sector to identify the bottlenecks, and highlight the critical aspects that need to be addressed to make it work for people and the environment.

Our main findings were that there was limited coordination and cooperation between various parties charged with managing the sector. And the counties have limited capacity to deliver on all the devolved functions and responsibilities.

Demand for charcoal and firewood in Kenya is set to increase, while its tree cover continues to dwindle. Decision-makers at national and county level must urgently improve governance of the sector.

Regulating charcoal

In Kenya, a variety of agencies oversee charcoal and firewood resources. Their job is to control, support and guide wood fuel production and use. They span the environment, forestry, agriculture and energy sectors at both national and subnational levels.

Unfortunately, mandates overlap and the activities of the various departments and bodies are only loosely coordinated.

A case in point is wood fuel production in Baringo and Kitui counties. Baringo is located in arid and semiarid lands of the Rift Valley region. Kitui lies 160km east of the capital Nairobi and was one of the major suppliers of charcoal to big cities until the ban in 2018.

According to the survey respondents, who included regulators, service providers, charcoal producers and traders, there are as many as 16 organizations tasked with monitoring wood fuel use in both counties.

This leads to duplication, confusion and even gaps.

This is complicated by the periodic charcoal bans which make it illegal to commercially produce and transport charcoal, but perfectly legal to sell and use it.

Another major bottleneck is capacity constraints at county level. Since their formation in 2013, county governments have made commendable attempts to develop specific charcoal strategies and implement them with the support of the Kenya Forestry Service and agencies. But this has been hampered by delays in the transition of responsibilities from the national government to the local government.

In addition, the authorities at the local level aren’t adequately resourced to take over the functions that used to depend on national agencies. The lack of financial and human resources makes it difficult for counties to enforce rules, support extension services and promote better practices among charcoal producers.

Opportunities and options

The Forest Charcoal Rules 2009 cover the production and distribution of wood fuel. They require commercial producers to register as members of a Charcoal Producer Association and to acquire a harvesting permit and a production license from the Kenya Forestry Services. Transporters are required to have movement permits and traders are expected to keep records of the sources of their charcoal.

These associations are well positioned to play a key role in connecting producers, traders and brokers. One of the first steps government could take would be to give them the technical, legal and organizational support to be functional and fully operational.

The associations should be given knowledge and skills in sustainable tree harvesting and woodland management and use of improved and efficient kilns.

Producers also need support in improving their financial literacy and marketing skills to increase profit margins. They also need clear incentives to comply with the rules. That is, producing and selling charcoal legally should be facilitated and illegal operations sanctioned.

Kenya – as well as other countries in sub-Saharan Africa – should also strive for well-defined institutional mechanisms and coordination across sectors and especially at county levels as a first step towards better wood fuel governance. Most important of all is the need to deal with illegal dealings in large scale production and trade in the sector.

Finally, one of the top priorities for wood fuel governance should be to support county governments to develop, resource and implement their own strategies and bylaws for wood fuel production, trade and use.

This blog first appeared on The Conversation.

Phosiso Sola is Scientist at World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and Paolo Omar Cerutti is Senior Scientist at the Centre for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

The study informing this article was supported by the European Union through the Governing Multifunctional Landscapes in Sub-Saharan Africa project, implemented by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) in partnership with World Agroforestry (ICRAF) and other partners. This work also received support from the CGIAR Research Programs on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), and Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM). 

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  • Cómo un estado brasileño está abordando la deforestación dentro de sus fronteras

Cómo un estado brasileño está abordando la deforestación dentro de sus fronteras
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Según los datos oficiales de deforestación de Brasil, Pará perdió 7,2 millones de hectáreas de cobertura forestal entre 2000 y 2019, o alrededor del 6 % de su bosque maduro. Ubicado en el norte, el segundo estado más grande del país después de Amazonas, tiene una alta tasa de pobreza y es vulnerable al acaparamiento de tierras, los conflictos socioambientales y la conversión de bosques.

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  • National forest monitoring capacity increases worldwide, research shows

National forest monitoring capacity increases worldwide, research shows
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Protecting and sustainably managing forests could contribute up to 30 percent of the goal established by the U.N. Paris Agreement on climate change, which aims to prevent mean annual temperatures from rising more than 1.5 to 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial times.

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  • Making the most of forest monitoring in Guyana

Making the most of forest monitoring in Guyana
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Guyana, a country in the northeast part of South America is one of a handful of countries that has managed to keep its deforestation and forest degradation low. Situated in the center of the Guiana Shield, one of the four largest remaining standing tropical rainforests in the world, For years, Guyana has also managed to keep its deforestation rate at around 0.07 percent, according to data from Global Forest Watch.

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  • How one Brazilian state is tackling deforestation within its borders

How one Brazilian state is tackling deforestation within its borders
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According to Brazil’s official deforestation data, Pará lost 7.2 million hectares of forest cover between 2000 and 2019, or about 6 percent of its mature forest. Located in the North, the country’s second biggest state after Amazonas, has a high poverty rate, and is vulnerable to land grabbing, socio-environmental conflict and forest conversion.

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  • Results-based payments in Indonesia: A strategy to move REDD+ forward?

Results-based payments in Indonesia: A strategy to move REDD+ forward?
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After more than a decade of working toward qualifying for payments under the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions caused by Deforestation and Forest Degradation) scheme, Indonesia received its first results-based financial rewards last year.

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  • Combatir el fuego con fuego en los ecosistemas tropicales secos

Combatir el fuego con fuego en los ecosistemas tropicales secos
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La visión de lenguas de fuego que se extienden sobre el pasto seco o suben como espirales sobre los árboles de un paisaje generalmente provoca miedo, pánico o tristeza. Pero el fuego no es siempre algo malo: en muchos de los ecosistemas secos del mundo, cierto nivel de quema es saludable, y en algunos casos, hasta necesario.

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  • In Peru, ecosystem services bring equity to the fore

In Peru, ecosystem services bring equity to the fore
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In the Mariño Watershed in the Peruvian province of Abancay in the southern Andes, altitudes range from 5,400 to 1,900 meters above sea level, encompassing perpetually snow-covered landscapes and areas featuring delicate orchids, which thrive in balmy temperatures. Water flows from glacial ridges through forested wetlands toward urban valleys, supporting subsistence economies, commercial farming operations and city life along the way.

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  • REDD+ research maps complex path to protect forests, people and climate

REDD+ research maps complex path to protect forests, people and climate
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This year, with much of the world suffering through a global pandemic and stuck at home, people are seeking nature, fresh air and green spaces. Unfortunately, they are becoming harder to find. Fires in the Amazon, floods in the Philippines, heatwaves in Europe – accelerating climate change is altering the planet. Scientific investigations into climate change and mitigation strategies are more important now than ever.

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  • Indonesia sees a sustainable future for Sintang and other local districts

Indonesia sees a sustainable future for Sintang and other local districts
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In Sintang, a district deep in the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan, 59 percent of land use is allocated to forests. A vast national park rich in biodiversity straddles the country’s longest river – the Kapuas. This is an area where some of the country’s major fascinations, from oil palm plantations to a conservation area for orangutans to concerns over fire susceptibility, meet in one landscape.

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  • Tamanu: Pulihkan lahan dan sehatkan badan

Tamanu: Pulihkan lahan dan sehatkan badan
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Jika ada pohon yang bisa memperbaiki lahan terdegradasi, memulihkan luka kulit dan menjadi sumber energi, apakah terdengar ajaib? Tidak juga.

Telah berabad lamanya minyak dari pohon tamanu, atau lebih dikenal sebagai nyamplung yang tumbuh di pulau Jawa, Sumatera dan Kalimantan, digunakan sebagai obat luka dan parut. Kini, ilmuwan dari Badan Litbang dan Inovasi Kementerian Lingkungan Hidup dan Indonesia (FORDIA), Universitas Mulawarman, Universitas Sriwijaya dan Pusat Penelitian Kehutanan Internasional (CIFOR) meneliti bagaimana tamanu memperbaiki lahan terdegradasi akibat terbakar atau pertambangan – dan secara simultan berkontribusi terhadap produksi bioenergi.

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  • Q+A: Transforming payments for forest environmental services in Vietnam

Q+A: Transforming payments for forest environmental services in Vietnam
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Signaling its commitment to forest conservation and management, in 2008 Vietnam became the first country in Asia to introduce a nationwide Payment for Forest Ecosystem Services (PFES) scheme. It was designed to account for the value of services provided by the forestry sector and protect the vital benefits forests provide to people – from carbon sequestration, watershed protection, sediment reduction in reservoirs to biodiversity conservation and provision of water for aquaculture and industrial uses.

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  • Kemajuan dan tantangan dalam perjalanan restorasi lahan gambut Indonesia

Kemajuan dan tantangan dalam perjalanan restorasi lahan gambut Indonesia
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Kepulauan Indonesia memiliki lebih dari sepertiga lahan gambut tropis dunia. Hutan lembap berair hitam ini menyimpan sekira 55 hingga 61 gigaton karbon dioksida, yang menjadikannya sebagai ekosistem penting untuk dikonservasi di tengah upaya menjaga perubahan iklim global.

Meskipun demikian, sekitar separuh lahan gambut berharga ini telah terdegradasi akibat pengeringan, deforestasi dan pembakaran – sebagian besar dibersihkan atas nama perhutanan dan pertanian. Degradasi ini memicu emisi gas rumah kaca (GRK) dan menempatkan Indonesia menjadi lima negara pengemisi tertinggi di dunia.

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