Who said carbon cannot pay for water? PRESA facilitated the expansion of Ecotrust’s work on Trees for Global benefits to enable farmers growing trees in the River Mobuku watershed in Uganda to access carbon payments. Mobuku River watershed lies at the foothills of the Rwenzori Mountains.

A woodlot of 'Prunus Africana' trees in the Ecotrust Uganda project area. PHOTO: Ecotrust Uganda

Before a carbon project is implemented, a lot of work goes into linking communities with potential carbon buyers. This article is a summary of activities by Ecotrust Uganda and PRESA, in getting farmers into carbon offsetting.

Farmer mobilisation

Several strategies were employed including home visits by Ecotrust field staff and meetings with local leaders in the areas targeted for the carbon project. Community-based officers from Ecotrust disseminated information about the project to local leaders and farmers and invited them for training meetings.

Farmer sensitisation

There were two induction meetings for farmers from the Ruboni Community Development Organisation in Bugoye sub-country and Mobuku Integrated Farmers’ Association in Maliba sub-county. Farmers from the two organizations were sensitized on the procedures of getting involved in carbon offsets. These meetings are critical because project requirements are explained to all those interested in joining the carbon project.
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A scheme to pay people in developing countries for reducing carbon emissions from deforestation is plagued by ‘leakage’ — trees that aren’t cut down in one forest are just cut down in another to provide people with the resources they would have foregone.

A study by an international team of scientists has come up with a way of dealing with leakage. Money set aside for conservation could be used to target the underlying drivers of deforestation – such as local people’s need for food and fuel – so that fewer trees need to be cut down.

For the details of that study, please click here >>.

Communities engaged in the Trees for Global Benefits carbon project in western Uganda are getting additional income from the medicinal values of a particular tree, but the lucrative benefits are putting the tree in danger, as criminals reap where others have planted.

A debarked Prunus africana tree. PHOTO: Gerald Kairu

The carbon project, implemented by the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST), uses voluntary carbon standards to link carbon producers (who are farmers and landowners growing trees) with global buyers of carbon credits.

Farmers participating in the Trees for Global Benefits projects are selected using criteria specified in Plan Vivo standards. Plan Vivo is a system for developing community-based payments for environmental service projects and programmes.

If successfully selected, the farmer signs a carbon sales contract and gets paid. However, farmers must draw up a land management plan making use of approved tree species such as Maesopsis eminii, Cordia sp., Khaya sp.and Prunus africana.

The carbon absorption rate (sequestration) of these species is known, making it easier to calculate how much carbon has been sequestered after a given time frame.
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Over 40 farmers in western Uganda are benefiting from a bee-keeping project supported by PRESA and its partner organization. The project enhanced the production and marketing of ecolabelled honey (eco-honey) as an incentive for greater community involvement in managing the River Mobuku watershed.

A training session on bee keeping at Kasese, Uganda. PHOTO: ECOTRUST Uganda

Eco-honey is certified honey that is harvested using environmentally friendly methods. With an ‘Eco’ label, the honey gets better access to global markets and relatively higher prices compared to non-ecolabelled honey.

The Ugandan eco-honey project titled, “Market-based incentives to promote conservation of natural resources in the Albertine Rift, Uganda,” was implemented by the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) in Kasese district within the Albertine Rift.

ECOTRUST is a PRESA partner organization working in this area of great ecological value.
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Humans are more dependent upon ecosystem services and biodiversity than ever before, according to researchers.

Nature provides ecosystem services that benefit economic development. PHOTO: V. Meadu

A new study has demonstrated that human well-being derived from three major ecosystem services has been increasing, particularly in countries considered to be biodiversity hotspots. The ecosystem services are water provision, biodiversity and carbon storage.

This study aimed to answer the question, ‘are humans still so dependent on ecosystems?’ The researchers analysed three indicators of human well-being provided by ecosystems:

(i.) production of wood;

(ii.) production of hydroelectricity, which depends on river flow; and

(iii.) investment in tourism, which depends on the cultural and aesthetic value of an area.
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United Nations climate change talks in Cancun, Mexico, have reached a deal to curb climate change, including a fund to help developing countries.

A section of delegates to the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP 16) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in Mexico in 2010. PHOTO: United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)

Nations endorsed compromise texts drawn up by the Mexican hosts, despite objections from Bolivia.

The draft documents say deeper cuts in carbon emissions are needed, but do not establish a mechanism for achieving the pledges countries have made.

Some countries’ resistance to the Kyoto Protocol had been a stumbling block during the final week of negotiations. However, diplomats were able to find a compromise.

Delegates cheered speeches from governments that had caused the most friction during negotiations – Japan, China, even the US – as one by one they endorsed the draft.

BBC environment correspondent Richard Black said the meeting did not achieve the comprehensive, all-encompassing deal that many activists and governments want. But he said it was being “touted as a platform on which that comprehensive agreement can be built”.

The Green Climate Fund is intended to raise and disburse $100 billion (£64 billion) a year by 2020 to protect poor nations against climate impacts and assist them with low-carbon development. A new Adaptation Committee will support countries as they establish climate protection plans. And parameters for funding developing countries to reduce deforestation are outlined.

Read the rest of the story from the BBC by clicking here.

The Albertine Rift in western Uganda rises from an altitude of 700 metres to 5,000 metres at the peaks of the Rwenzori Mountains. It is a nature paradise of trees, plants, animals, birds and fish.

A tree nursery in Uganda. PHOTO: V. Meadu.

Population increase, and the resultant demand for agricultural land and timber, necessitates ensuring that ecological resources are not exploited to depletion. Rewarding communities for environmental services is one way of doing this as it creates incentives for conservation.

However, the development of reward mechanisms requires a thorough understanding of the ecosystem services in question, potential buyers, intermediaries and suppliers, institutional arrangements and the policy environment.

In western Uganda, PRESA has partnered with two local organizations: Ecotrust Uganda and Nature Harness Initiatives (NAHI). Both are helping communities adopt sustainable land use practices and benefit from stronger links to markets for ecosystem services.
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A carbon project in Malawi where participating farmers get cash for growing trees is the subject of a radio script by Farm Radio Weekly. The script can be used by broadcasters to create a radio programme.

Registering for reverse auction at Ntchisi in September 2008. The reverse auction was aimed at finding out what price to pay farmers in the tree carbon project. PHOTO/V. Meadu

Farm Radio Weekly (FRW) was interested in a story on some of the ways smallholder farmers benefit from PRESA. The PRESA coordinating office in Nairobi drew their attention to the tree planting project in Malawi being implemented by ICRAF and the Malawi government.

Though Malawi is not yet a PRESA site, the cash-for-trees payments offer interesting lessons that could be used for other payments for environmental service schemes in the rest of Africa. FRW conducted interviews with farmers involved in the project as well as project managers. All of them expressed positive views about the project. The interviews took place in early 2009.
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Trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into biomass. PHOTO/V. Meadu

Amidst worldwide concern over climate change largely blamed on emissions from fossil fuel, there is an appreciation of the role of trees in absorbing carbon dioxide from the air (carbon sequestration).

Ongoing destruction of forests is, however, reducing the carbon sequestration services of trees and thereby accelerating climate change.

Coffee trees provide income to farmers from the sale of coffee beans but an added benefit is that coffee trees sequester atmospheric carbon. In recent decades, though, farmers have suffered from low coffee prices and have reduced the acreage under coffee.
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Part of the highlands of western Uganda. PHOTO/V. Meadu

Carbon offsetting in south western and western parts of Uganda is a relatively new approach to mitigate climate change in the region. It is implemented by the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) under the Trees for Global Benefit Program, but has received additional support from ICRAF through the Pro-poor Rewards for Environmental Services in Africa (PRESA) project.

PRESA’s overall goal is to have “hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers and residents living in the highlands of East and West Africa benefiting from fair and effective agreements between stewards and beneficiaries of ecosystem services.”

The carbon offsetting scheme implemented by ECOTRUST is unique in that it targets small scale farmers who, by virtue of their holdings, are poor. In Africa, such initiatives are not common. It should be noted that prior to initiation of the project, scoping studies ensured that the project was designed to fit and address community needs and challenges.

In Uganda, the carbon offset scheme is operational and it involves rural communities planting trees on their land for carbon sequestration but with a management objective based on their land holdings and needs. The benefits accruing from this initiative are both direct and indirect.
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