This document summarizes the results of the analysis on the financing issues related to business models proposed by existing NAMAs or emission reduction initiatives in nine LAC countries (Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Colombia, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), developed between November 2018 and February 2019 by reviewing and analyzing secondary information and consulting (remotely) with key informants from each country evaluated. Financial and non financial barriers were evaluated, along with financial instruments proposed by livestock NAMAs. As a result, the implementation of a financing mechanism in countries developing NAMAs or livestock programs is recommended, as well as a few general recommendations to guide the financial aspects of these initiatives, in order to increase their long-term sustainability.
Tag: carbon
Gobernanza de las Acciones Nacionales Apropiadas de Mitigación (NAMA) para los sistemas ganaderos en la región de América Latina y el Caribe [Governance of National Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) for livestock systems in Latin America and the Cari
This document summarizes the governance analysis of bovine livestock NAMAs, or low-emission cattle farming initiatives, that are either underway or in formulation in LAC. It focuses on the legal and institutional frameworks and the key aspects related to stakeholder framework structure and design, associated with an effective and sustainable governance model.
Understanding and integrating local perceptions of trees and forests into incentives for sustainable landscape management
We examine five forested landscapes in Africa (Cameroon, Madagascar, and Tanzania) and Asia (Indonesia and Laos) at different stages of landscape change. In all five areas, forest cover (outside of protected areas) continues to decrease despite local people’s recognition of the importance of forest products and services. After forest conversion, agroforestry systems and fallows provide multiple functions and valued products, and retain significant biodiversity. But there are indications that such land use is transitory, with gradual simplification and loss of complex agroforests and fallows as land use becomes increasingly individualistic and profit driven. In Indonesia and Tanzania, farmers favor monocultures (rubber and oil palm, and sugarcane, respectively) for their high financial returns, with these systems replacing existing complex agroforests. In the study sites in Madagascar and Laos, investments in agroforests and new crops remain rare, despite government attempts to eradicate swidden systems and their multifunctional fallows. We discuss approaches to assessing local values related to landscape cover and associated goods and services. We highlight discrepancies between individual and collective responses in characterizing land use tendencies, and discuss the effects of accessibility on land management. We conclude that a combination of social, economic, and spatially explicit assessment methods is necessary to inform land use planning. Furthermore, any efforts to modify current trends will require clear incentives, such as through carbon finance. We speculate on the nature of such incentive schemes and the possibility of rewarding the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale and in a socially equitable manner.
What is the right scale for REDD?
What are the costs and potentials of REDD?
The carbon efficiency of oil palm plantations: an opportunity cost analysis
The introduction and expansion of oil palm in Indonesia reflects the crop’s economic attractiveness and benefits, but the social interactions between companies and local communities have had a mixed track record that requires attention. To some extent, oil palm plantations have been portrayed as costly from social and environmental perspectives. To understand the economic benefits of palm oil production, we analyzed both private and financial returns at the plantation level as well as the return to labour. Socially, interaction areas were identified as the result of labour requirements of oil palm plantations and the profitability of independent and plasma smallholders’ plantations.
¿Crecen los árboles sobre el dinero?: implicaciones de la investigación sobre deforestación en las medidas para promover la REDD
This paper has two objectives. First, it analyzes the past research on deforestation and summarizes the findings of that research, in terms of its relevance to the development of future REDD regimes. Second, it highlights areas where future research and methodological development are needed to support national and international processes on avoided deforestation and degradation.
Carbon Stocks and Soil Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Forest Conversion to Oil Palm Plantations in Tanjung Puting Tropical Peatlands, Indonesia
This dissertation addresses gaps of knowledge associated with how ecosystem carbon stocks and greenhouse gas emissions are affected by land use land cover change in tropical peatlands. This was the first study that paired peat swamp forests with oil palm plantations and analyzed site scale variation on greenhouse gas emissions. This study was conducted over 16 months (September 2012 to December 2013) at Tanjung Puting, Central Kalimantan province, Indonesia. Three main objectives of this study were: 1) to quantify the total ecosystem carbon stocks and potential carbon emissions from peat swamp forest conversion to oil palm plantations; 2) to measure annual soil emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O emissions from forests and oil palm plantations; and 3) to assess the effects of fertilizer application on nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4) emissions in the immature oil palm plantations.
A general allometric equation for estimating biomass in Acacia mangium plantations
Acacia Mangium Willd. is one of the most important tree species grown in commercial plantation in Monsoon Asia. Recently, the need for accurate information in the biomass in plantations has become more urgent, especially since the amount of carbon sequestered in afforestation/reforestation Clean Development Mechanism (AR-CDM) projects in developing countries can be included under the Kyoto Protocol. We present here a general allometric equation for estimating aboveground biomass (AGB) of A. mangium plantations from the diameter of the trees recorded at the respectives sites. Destructive samplings were conducted in Papua New Guinea, Vietnam, and Indonesia. At each site, 4-12 trees were felled, their trunks, branches and leaves were separately weighed, and allometric models for estimating AGB was determined. A general allometric equation (A log-log model) was developed from an overall total of 26 sample trees from sampled sites. No significant differences were found between the biomass estimations derived from the site-specific and the general allometric equations. The general allometric equation may allow us to estimate AGB of A. mangium plantations in Monsoon Asia without destructive sampling.
Pulpwood plantations as carbon sinks in Indonesia: methodological challenge and impact on livelihoods
The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was created under the Kyoto Protocol, in order to help industrialized countries achieve their Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission reduction targets at a lower cost. A second objective of the CDM is to help developing countries achieve sustainable development. To become eligible these projects have to demonstrate their additionality, and have a positive impact on local communities’ livelihoods. But the methodologies that have been proposed seem unsatisfactory, and the social impacts are often debated. This paper provides new insights on these methodologies, their weaknesses and potential improvements, and explores the social impacts of an afforestation/reforestation CDM activity with a high carbon sequestration potential. We studied a large-scale pulpwood plantation in Indonesia, which is perceived as a way to sequestrate great quantities of carbon in a short time, and as an alternative to natural forest supplies for the domestic pulp industry. We collected complete data on the establishment and production costs, and the carbon sequestration potential. We also took advantage of our ongoing research on the Indonesian Pulp & Paper (P&P) sector to interpret these results, and evaluate the relevance of widely used and proposed methodologies for additionality assessment. Finally, research on site allowed us to obtain data on the plantation’s impact on the people living nearby. According to our research, fast-growing tree plantations face production costs far higher than revenues gained from the sale of carbon credits, even with a relatively important carbon sequestration. But calculations made according to usual methodologies can be misleading. We show that context analysis is more relevant, and that profitability calculations lead to wrong conclusions. From a social point of view, pulpwood plantation projects could increase livelihoods in the short term, but this depends very much on the opportunities for locals to combine employment in the plantation with land uses generating higher incomes per hectare.