US Policy
Buy-Side Liability Persists in California Regs
Back in April it looked like the California Air Resources Board (ARB) had come to an agreement with stakeholders for assigning liability for credits later found to be flawed, such as in cases of mismanagement or fraud. The plan was to create a “buffer pool” of credits which could be accessed to replace invalid credits. But the ARB scrapped that plan citing additional administrative burden. Market players have been critical of the buyer-side liability option, saying the added risk could stifle interest in offsets, but ARB seems content to leave this up to the case-by-case negotiations. Read more from Reuters here.
Project Development
New REDD Projects Sprouting in Vietnam
Locally-based Vietnam Carbon Exchange Ltd (VCE) and their Australia-based partners Voluntary Credits Ltd are in the process of implementing a REDD project in Bach Ma National Park that they say will sequester 0.36 million tonnes of carbon over the proposed 30 year project lifetime. This project arrives on the heels of another recently implemented REDD project in Vietnam, VCE’s first and the first in Vietnam to be developed by a local, private developer - 32,000 hectares, set to absorb 1.2-1.5 million tonnes of carbon over 30 years. Read about Vietnam’s latest here.
Australia’s Carbon Farming Pipeline Opens Up
R.M Williams, purveyor of the kind of clothes that transform Paul Hogan into Crocodile Dundee, has just bought a AU$13 million property in Australia’s outback. Although primarily intended as a nature reserve, the company hopes to generate 1.5 million carbon credits per year for the next 10-15 years under Australia’s emerging Carbon Farming Initiative. Read more from Australia’s The Age here.
Sierra Gorda Clears Validation
Mexico’s Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, has become the first project in the country to be recognized under the VCS, not to mention recently garnering Gold-level validation under the CCB Standard. These successful validations have been 3 years in the making. The Sierra Gorda project is a pioneer in bringing numerous smallholders together under a third-party standard to do reforestation. The project consists of nearly 300 small reforestation projects spread out across 53 communities. Read more about the project from Ecosystem Marketplace here.
National Strategy & Capacity
Community Forestry Revival in Indonesia
Something must have gone right following the last RRI, ITTO and Ministry of Forestry conference in Indonesia, because the Indonesian government has now announced plans to hand over much of the control of forests to local communities. The Ministry and representatives from local communities will hash out a plan of action over the next six months covering how communities will be involved in forest management and consider proposed changes to resolve tenure conflicts. The agreement is not yet binding, so many observers are waiting for the proof in the Indonesian forest pudding. Read more from the RRI website here.
All REDD+ is Local
Indonesia’s second largest emitting province, Central Kalimantan, is moving toward a provincial REDD strategy over the next two months. Speaking at a recent workshop organized by CIFOR, representatives from the Central Kalimantan government suggested even landowners with small holdings of two hectares can be part of this strategy and REDD+ projects. This policy is conceived within the scope of the Norway-Indonesia $1 billion REDD+ agreement signed in December 2010. The timing and drafting success of the provincial strategy however depends on the “nearly-finished” national plan. For more information on the progress of the Kalimantan provincial strategy see the CIFOR blog here.
DRC Sets a Durban Goalpost
The Democratic Republic of the Congo has been working to develop an autonomous operational forest monitoring system with the help of the FAO and Brazil’s National Space Agency. At the latest round of UN meetings in Bonn in June, speakers announced their hope to launch an initial version by Durban. Read more news from the UN-REDD website here.
Champagne Flowing in New Zealand
New Zealand is championing its emissions trading scheme as a success following the first full year of operation. Since July 2010 there has been a shift from deforestation (which peaked at 20,000 hectares in 2007) to net reforestation and afforestation. New Zealand is the first country outside Europe to mandate an emissions trading scheme and forestry has been the first economic sector to be piloted and New Zealand plans to role this out across economic sectors in the coming years with predictions that by 2012 deforestation will be down to 4000 hectares whilst afforestation efforts will have reached 10,000 hectares. Read more about the successes of the NZ ETS from Carbon Positive here.
Finance & Economics
Not So Fast
Indonesia has fulfilled its obligations in order to receive $30M from its larger $1B agreement with Norway, but is now being called upon to create two independent bodies to govern and monitor forest protection efforts before the money will flow. Iman Santosa, Director General of the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, said the two bodies will be established and operating by the end of the year. Read more about Indonesia's next steps here
A Who’s Who of Forest Carbon Movers
A new review in the New York Times of the general state of play for forest carbon in UN circles and carbon markets points all eyes to Durban. A UN climate deal could buttress the market for forest carbon credits, but so far high level discussions have stalled. Meanwhile, public funding for capacity-building in developing countries is starting to flow, but more private sector involvement is still being called for. One way the market players suggest for encouraging further private sector involvement could be to move beyond carbon credits to brands. Read more on the New York Times website here.
GEF Ponies up Cash for REDD+
Four projects in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Jamaica and Turkey have been approved by the Global Environment Facility and will now receive funding totaling US$19.3 million. These projects have been designed to improve forest management practices over 2 million hectares, reducing carbon emissions by 2.7 MtCO2e. Read more about the projects and the new GEF window for Sustainable Forest Management and REDD+ projects from the Climate-L announcement here.
Carbon Credits Move to Facebook
Milyoni and Wildlife Works are making it even easier to offset your carbon with the announcement of a new Facebook page selling carbon credits and carbon neutral clothing. For $20 per credit, social networkers can share their choice to offset their carbon footprint with friends. This is a new way to engage people and targets a different type of consumer: one likely to purchase a small number of credits for personal offsetting. The extent to which Facebook users will ‘like’ offsetting their carbon footprint is a new frontier, so stay tuned. For more information, see the press release on MarketWire here.
First Growth, Last Gasp?
First Growth Funds, an Australian investment company specializing in forest carbon projects has collapsed after failing to secure additional funds when it was placed in administration by secured lender Noble Investments Superannuation Fund. The company has been active since 1986 and formed a subsidiary, First Growth Ventures, to provide financing for carbon project development in Asia and the South Pacific. The company is now looking to defer payments to lenders, hoping that it can secure buyers in the voluntary market for its credits, but would still need to secure additional investment to ready those credits. Read about First Growth’s struggles from the Sydney Morning Herald here, and from The Age here.
Methodology & Standards Watch
Another Color for the ICROA Rainbow
The International Carbon Reduction and Offset Alliance (ICROA) has announced that offsets adhering to the American Carbon Registry (ACR) Standard are now endorsed for use across ICROA’s membership. ACR joins the ranks of VCS, CAR, CarbonFix, CDM/JI, and Gold Standard. ICROA’s endorsement opens up a whole new set of buyer’s to ACR project developers, although whether this translated into greater interest from European and other buyers remains to be seen. See the press release here and the Ecosystem Marketplace take on the approval here.
Tag, You’re It
The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) has announced updates to several Version 3 Program Documents: the VCS Standard, Program Fee Schedule, Methodology Approval Process, Registration and Issuance Process, and AFOLU Expert Application Form. VCS has also issued a new policy for “tagging” Verified Carbon Units (VCUs), with other standards. See the updated Version 3 Program documents here and read about the new “tagging” policy here.
UK Forest Projects Given New Rules
A UK government approved carbon accreditation scheme developed by an industry stakeholder group led by the Forestry Commission hopes to provide credibility to UK forest carbon projects. Those projects will be able to be validated by a third-party under the new Woodland Carbon Code (WCC) then listed on a registry. The scheme will be for voluntary buyers to offset emissions, with companies like Pearson, the publisher of Penguin Books, already on board. Read about the new rules here.
Human Dimension
Mapmaker, Mapmaker, Make me a Map
Indonesia has expressed interest in producing a map of the country’s forests cooperatively with local communities. Of the maps already available, most tend to omit information on customary tenure. Finding and agreeing such uses looks like it will be a challenge, but the Indonesian government has announced that it is liaising with AMAN, a coalition of indigenous groups to chart the way forward. While it appears that participatory mapping is becoming an increasingly important tool, there is no formal legal recognition of these maps in Indonesia. For more information on the Indonesian government commitment see the RRI blog here.
Greasing the Wheels for REDD Cash in Guyana
Amerindian leaders in Guyana discussed the country’s Low Carbon Development Strategy, with the majority voting to fast-track institutional requirements to release Norwegian funds, some of which are meant to benefit indigenous communities. Some of the funds are intended for the installation of solar panels, while other projects include land titling and demarcation of Amerindian lands and community development projects. Read more about the National Toshaos Council’s take on REDD funding here.
Science & Technology Review
The Indirect Soy Footprint
New research published in Environmental Research Letters shows growth in Brazil’s soy industry is displacing cattle ranchers further into the rainforest and contributing to disproportionately high rates of deforestation, despite the Brazilian soy industry’s moratorium on forest clearing signed in 2006. It has raised questions whether efforts to reduce deforestation In Brazil are now resulting in increased rates in surrounding countries. Paraguay and Bolivia have already seen increased soy acreage in recent years. Read more about the research finding in Mongabay here and access the research article here.
Announcements
New Industry Group for Forest Carbon Professionals
Carbon Positive and seven other organizations, based in six countries and consisting of NGOs and private companies, have joined together to form the International Forest Carbon Association (IFCA) in an effort to effectively represent the diverse interests of market players across forest carbon markets. The organization is gearing up now and seeking members from across forest carbon supply chain. Read more about the newly minted IFCA from Carbon Positive here.
Learning the New REDD+ Ropes
The VCS Association will host a webinar August 4th to introduce stakeholders to the new Methodology for Avoided Unplanned Deforestation. Representatives from assessment teams at Bureau Veritas Certification and Rainforest Alliance will particpate, along with the developers of the methodology, World Bank's BioCarbon Fund and Fundação Amazonas Sustentável. Read more details here
Jobs
Can you see yourself at the United Nations Development Programme as a REDD+ Programme Specialist? Check out this or other job opportunities on the Forest Carbon Portal's Jobs page, where you can also post your own job listings.
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