The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) defines carbon markets as trading systems in which carbon credits are sold and bought. Companies or individuals can use carbon markets to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions by purchasing carbon credits from entities that remove or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One tradable carbon credit equals one tonne of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas reduced, sequestered or avoided. When a credit is used to reduce, sequester, or avoid emissions, it becomes an offset and is no longer tradable.
Tag: certification
Standard and Methodology for the Development and Certification of Mangrove Blue Carbon Projects in Indonesia
Mangrove blue carbon holds high economic value, making the development of investment-based projects reliant on robust standards and methodologies. The Standards and Methodologies Document for the Development and Certification of Mangrove Blue Carbon Projects in Indonesia outlines procedures for developing mangrove blue carbon projects using standards and methodologies that take into account both national regulations and internationally recognized frameworks. It details the standards for defining spatial and temporal boundaries and for carbon stock accounting for each category of mangrove blue carbon projects, presented within the context of the project development cycle.
The methodologies described include the establishment of baselines (both historical and scenario-based), calculation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals, and approaches for integrating national and international methodologies. This document refers to several technical references such as the User Manual of the National Registry System for Climate Change Control (SRN PPI) and the Guidelines for the Certification Scheme on Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction (SPEI), as well as national regulations including Presidential Regulation No. 98 Year 2021 and Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation No. 21 Year 2022. In addition, it aligns with international standards such as the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS), Plan Vivo (PV), and the Emission Reduction Fund (ERF).
Quais impactos a certificação FSC tem no bem-estar dos trabalhadores florestais, comunidades locais e povos indígenas?
O Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) é uma organização internacional que serve como plataforma para proprietários florestais, madeireiras, grupos sociais e organizações ambientais, e tem como objetivo identificar soluções para aprimorar as práticas de manejo florestal em todo o mundo. Lançada em 1993, a certificação FSC é hoje o principal programa de certificação de manejo florestal privado e voluntário do mundo. Como resultado, uma grande quantidade de pesquisas tem se concentrado na avaliação dos seus impactos em uma ampla gama de tópicos. No entanto, como os padrões do FSC são adaptáveis ao contexto local e passam por atualizações frequentes, ainda há uma necessidade significativa de avaliações de impacto que forneçam subsídios atualizados para a tomada de decisões.
Cocoa Certification in Sulawesi, Indonesia: Too Late and Too Little for the Environment?
Cocoa certification aims to address commodity-driven deforestation and promote sustainable agriculture, but its effectiveness remains insufficiently studied. In this study, we selected 40 cocoa plantations through stratified random sampling in Luwu Utara, Sulawesi, Indonesia, the largest cocoa producer in Asia. We assessed the implementation of cocoa certification and the vegetation structure of these plantations. Our findings show that 13 of the 40 plantations were certified under the Rainforest Alliance. Certification was primarily achieved by farmers at lower elevations, near infrastructure such as roads and cocoa collection centers, and by members of farmer associations. Consequently, certification mainly covered older plantations with less shade tree species richness, located farther from primary forest fronts. Therefore, it is too late to prevent commodity-driven deforestation. When matching certified and non-certified plantations based on elevation, we found no significant differences in shade tree basal area or shade tree species richness between them. The Rainforest Alliance requires 15% natural vegetation cover for cocoa plantations, which is too low to effectively support biodiversity or incentivize planting shade trees.
Forest product certification and sustainable forest management
Do tree plantations support forest conservation?
Key messages
- Tree plantations potentially support natural forest conservation. The main hypothesis for this effect is that tree plantations substitute natural forests for production, especially when plantations achieve high productivity.
- An exhaustive review of the published literature shows a diversity of analytical approaches with theoretical modeling, econometrics or descriptive statistics as main categories.
- This diversity reflects the complexity of translating a simple assumption into models because of the many factors at play. The analysis is all the more necessary as the positive substitution effect is straightforward, but potential negative (as well as other positive) impacts resulting from feedback/indirect effects, e.g. displacement of deforestation or replication of successful policies elsewhere, require more sophisticated methods to be understood.
- There is a convergence of findings of reduced degradation of natural forests with the expansion of tree plantations, but also potential increased deforestation due to lower market value of natural forests in the absence of logging (or displacement effects).
- A main limitation of studies pointing to the risk of forest conversion resulting from plantation expansion is the lack of consideration of policies and regulations that could prevent such deforestation, e.g. protected areas established where risks are high.
- These results are likely to apply partially to the case of fuelwood collection by local people – with less degradation but no identified outcome in terms of deforestation – yet much depends on household characteristics and the respective locations of plantations and forests.
- The limited number of studies challenges any general recommendation, yet a promising way forward may be the promotion of highly productive plantations in strategic places where agricultural rents are low, while taking action at the demand level to avoid a rebound effect whenever the price elasticity of demand for wood products is high.
- Continued production in natural forests, in a sustainable manner, might also help prevent deforestation, with wood products sold on niche markets and at a higher price owing to premiums (e.g. certification).
What impacts does FSC certification have on the well-being of forest workers, local communities and Indigenous Peoples?
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) is an international membership organization that serves as a platform for forest owners, timber industries, social groups and environmental organizations, and is aimed at identifying solutions for improving forest management practices around the globe. Launched in 1993, FSC certification is now the world’s leading private and voluntary forest management certification scheme. As a result, a large amount of research has focused on assessing the impacts of FSC certification on the ground across a wide range of topics. However, given the nature of local adaptability and dynamic updating of FSC standards, there is still a great need for impact evaluations to inform current decision making.
Ability of institutions to address new challenges
What types of institutional configurations hold the most promise in fostering efforts for long-term amelioration of enduring environmental, social, and economic challenges facing the world’s forests This chapter presents, and applies an analytical framework with which to review research findings and analyses that shed light on what appear to be the most promising institutional settings with which to address these drivers, ameliorate problems, and encourage responsible and sustainable forest management around the globe. Our framework focuses attention on the shift from government to governance; political authority; disentangling abstract policy for specific requirements; and capacity enhancing knowledge-generating and administrative institutions. We reveal that the global nature of economic, social, and environmental demands on the world’s forests, and complex commercial trade relationships, require that we integrate analyses of domestic and local responses to assess the role of innovative regional and global institutions designed to address these “good governance” challenges. We conclude by calling for much greater attention to the potential of synergistic institutional intersection to respond to new and enduring challenges in ways that single interventions or institutions are unable to do so.
Ensuring seedling quality through nursery accreditation
The fruit tree nursery accreditation scheme implemented by the Philippine Department of Agriculture (DA) has been promoted to enhance the supply of high quality fruit tree planting materials and reduce the number of dubious seedling market players. This paper examines the advantages of the fruit tree nursery accreditation scheme and draws implications for possible formulation of a scheme to accredit forest tree nurseries in the Philippines. Data were collected from interviews with accredited fruit tree nursery operators and the nursery accreditation officer-in-charge in Northern Mindanao. There has been an increase in the number of applicants for nursery accreditation each year since 2004, as a result of the advantages nursery operators observed from those who had already been accredited. A major advantage is that only accredited fruit tree nursery operators can join in the government procurement of seedlings through a bidding process which is always for substantial volumes. As a form of advertisement, accredited nurseries are posted on the government website thus creating a wide range of market opportunities which results in increased sales. Other advantages such as receiving free training in improving seedling production and occasionally receiving high quality propagation materials (scions and seedlings), subsidies for pesticides and fertilizers and free soil tests were enjoyed by accredited fruit tree nurseries. These opportunities encouraged other nursery operators to apply for accreditation. Accreditation by the DA places emphasis on maintaining high genetic quality of planting materials as well as the physical quality of the seedlings. Accrediting forestry nurseries is seen as a potential policy option that can expand the supply of high quality tree seedlings in the Philippines, as is the case with fruit tree seedlings.
Multiple certification uptake by coffee businesses: Evidence of functions and benefits from Central America
This article examines why and how nine coffee businesses in Central America engaged with multiple certification systems and the related functions and benefits. The businesses implemented, on average, four systems. Certification, in general, strengthened their negotiation position vis-à-vis exporters and international buyers, whereas multiple certification reduced the risks inherent in their reliance on any one certification, allowing businesses to sell as much coffee as possible at a relatively higher price. However, commitments to the certification’s underlying goals were tenuous: Businesses engaged a subgroup of their supplier base in any one label, and coffee buyers purchased relatively small volumes of certified coffees, at times, conditioned on access to larger volumes of noncertified coffees. Although certification facilitated capacity upgrading, in many cases, the changes were minor and might have taken place without certification. Results suggest that multiple certification helps sustain small-scale coffee exporters but dampen expectations that certification will drive long-term systemic change in the sector. We conclude with recommendations for certification agencies and others that seek to support coffee businesses to expand their engagement in certified coffee markets.