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Money for nothing? Credits for free? Everyone’s bandying about a myth: sinks projects are cheap. Read the small text. If you go by the rules, you might have to take stock of your wallet. Indeed, expenses might ensure that nobody buys sinks projects, eventually. "Forestry projects are cheap only if basic standards are not met. Some of the cheapest forestry projects are World Bank projects of eucalyptus plantations in Brazil and projects in Romania and Moldova. In many cases, per tonne price is between US $1-5," explains Trulus Gulowsen, campaigner, Greenpeace. "A good CDM (clean development mechanism) forestry project will cost about US $100 per tonne of carbon if biodiversity, sustainable development issues and people participation are incorporated," Taka Hiraishi informs. "Small and diverse farms maintained and preserved by local communities are always better than huge industrial monoculture projects."
Proposed CDM sinks projects are all about getting cheap credits. One such is a Norwegian plantation project in Uganda and Tanzania. The project throws sustainable development out of the window. Industrikraft Midt-Norge, a Norwegian company, is planting eucalyptus and pine in Uganda and Tanzania to offset its emissions from a gas-based power plant in Norway. "The company together with local companies in host countries floated a firm called Treefarms, in which it has a majority stake," explains Gulowsen. Treefarms is investing in a 5000 ha plantation through a local subsidiary, Busoga Forestry Company Limited. As many as 8,000 people –– mainly farmers and fisherfolk have been evicted from 13 villages to allow plantations. They can cultivate in the area but have to pay rent! "The price quoted by the firm for carbon credits was a ridiculously low rate of less than US $1," says Gulowsen. "It clearly shows that if there is a weak government in the host country, industry does not have any regard for bigger socio-economic questions." Treefarms has announced a similar plantation project on 15,000 ha of grassland plains in Tanzania. Kilombero Forestry Company Ltd, owned by Escarpment Forestry Company Ltd, a subsidiary of TreeFarms, is involved in planting at least 15,000 ha in Tanzania. Then there’s the monoculture CDM industrial plantation project in Brazil by a company called Plantar. Even before its begun, controversy’s broken out. The project is seeking credits for temporary storage of carbon dioxide in plants that will eventually be cut to produce charcoal. The validating agency, Det Norske Veritas (DNV), has said in its report that it cannot ensure that the sequestration from these plantations is forever more. What’s worse is that the project is being considered under the Prototype Carbon Fund, a fund floated by the World Bank. A number of government and corporate investors who get a pro rata share of the credits from projects have invested in this fund. Charcoal instead of coal will be used to produce pig iron to help reduce emissions, and so seek credits. Under the project, 23.1 thousand ha of eucalyptus plantations will be established to produce wood for charcoal. Credits worth 12.9 million tonnes per carbon dioxide equivalent will be claimed for storing carbon dioxide in plantations established to replace existing ones, as well as for using charcoal instead of coal. The point is: who does the money go to? |
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Copyright © CSE Centre for Science and Environment
Estimates show that
potential carbon sequestration resulting from afforestation and reforestation activities
in 2010 in developing countries can be in the range of 190 to 538 million tonnes of carbon
per year. According to a 2001 study, investment cost of carbon sequestration varies from
US $0.1 to US $40.6 per tonne of carbon. An Andhra Pradesh, India, case study shows the
setting up a eucalyptus plantation could cost US $493 per hectare (ha). Projection for
carbon sequestration in the same area is 1.4 to 9.5 million tonnes of carbon per ha per
annum. According to N H Ravindranath, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, the
prevailing rate for per tonne carbon dioxide is somewhere between US $3 to 5 for forestry
projects. Even by this calculation it’s a lot of money. But this money ought to go to
communities. Otherwise, it’s stark grabbery. 