by Mike Greenwood
October 13, 2022
With carbon concessions, profit no longer comes from logging or timber production, but rather from maintaining and improving carbon stocks. And under current international carbon market conditions, the potential revenues for national governments and local communities could very well exceed those derived from logging today. In this webinar, the Initiative 20×20 Carbon Task Force explored the potential of carbon concessions to displace logging and protect standing forests. Initiative 20×20 partners Green Gold Forestry and Permian Global shared their experiences with pioneering projects in Peru and Brazil.
Featuring:
• Pina Gervassi, Climate Director, Forest Stewardship Council; co-lead of Carbon Task Force, Initiative 20×20
• Stuart Clenaghan, Co-Founder, Green Gold Forestry SA
• Gareth Hughes, Co-Founder and CEO, Green Gold Forestry SA (to see the PowerPoint click here)
• Juan Chang, Head of Technical Operations, Permian Global (his presentation begins at: 29:26 and to see his PowerPoint click here)
• Gabriel Quijandría, Regional Director for South America at IUCN and Former Minister of Environment, Peru • Walter Vergara, Senior Fellow and Director, Initiative 20×20, WRI
Juan had the opportunity to present and explain some of the challenges of forest concessions, in Brazil, for the carbon credit market. He also presented the case of Rio Cautário in Rondônia and the results of a public-private partnership, and highlighted aspects that should be considered:
Technical: develop a transparent methodology, better radar images to help monitor the territory in order to reduce logging.
Social: even with concessions, there are areas where the tree cutting tradition is strong within the communities themselves.
Political: The lack of clarity on the responsibilities of different authorities leads to delays in concessions and other important decisions. For example, in Peru concessions are known to be part of the Ministry of Agriculture’s issues. While the greenhouse gas accounting relies on the Ministry of Agriculture.
Stuart Clenaghan, co-founder of Green Gold Forestry, and Gareth Hughes, co-founder and CEO of Green Gold Forestry spoke about the change from forest concession to forest concession for the production of carbon credits.
Green Gold Forestry has promoted studies in the region with the help of universities and international partners, such as Verra, to endorse the benefits of this change.
Executives highlighted:
The concessions cover 150,000 ha, but this territory will be expanded in the coming months.
There are 26 professionals working in the forest alongside 16 communities.
Studies were carried out with the communities to better understand them, such as surveying age, family income, etc. This allowed a more assertive targeting in wellness actions.
Green Gold helped the community to formalize ownership terms with the authorities so that they become independent.
The project uses Verra’s methodology to measure carbon.
After the foundation of the development and research center in the region, 25 forest products were identified that can be cultivated and extracted from the forest in a sustainable way and commercialized, including Açaí and Latex.
Gabriel Quijandría, Regional Director for South America at the IUCN and former Minister of the Environment in Peru raised some issues that should be considered when dealing with projects that aim to promote the production of carbon credits:
How can we transform carbon, which is an invisible product, into a commodity that is worth as much as those that the market appreciates?
Forests can provide many benefits and we must make that clear. Carbon is important, but how can we link it to the other benefits the forest is able to provide?
How to value the work done by communities? How to help local communities?
How to show the benefits of these actions to investors and to the world?
Initiative 20×20 — is an initiative of countries that seek to change the reality of land degradation in Latin American regions and the Caribbean.
(Acknowledgements to the World Resources Institute for video footage and presentation links)