The Carbon Era

---

As I mentioned in my last blog GRNP is in the process of developing a REDD Carbon project which will mean that all of the work we do will be funded by selling ‘carbon credits’ on the international market. If you’ve never heard of REDD or Carbon Projects before that might not make much sense so for those who are interested here’s some more information from an article I wrote for our newsletter.....



Carbon is a molecular building block of life. Every living thing contains carbon. Plants, particularly trees, store large amounts of carbon in their trunks, branches and roots which they absorb from the atmosphere. When we cut down trees for construction of roads, houses and industries, or to convert the forest into the bush fallow cycle for crop production, we release into the atmosphere the carbon stored in the trees. This carbon combines with oxygen to form carbon dioxide and the gradually increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are resulting in a change in climate worldwide. Carbon dioxide is known as one of the Green House Gases (GHGs) as it traps heat from the sun within the atmosphere causing the surface of the Earth to become hotter. The impact of climate change is resulting in changes in annual rainfall, melting of snow, glaciers and sea ice, raising sea levels and more extreme weather events such as drought, floods and severe storms.



Deforestation and land use change contributes approximately 20%!o(MISSING)f global Green House Gas emissions. The rate of climate change is projected to increase in the next couple of decades if global actions are not taken to reduce emissions; conservation and reforestation can make a significant contribution to reduction efforts.



Concerns over climate change have resulted in the development of a global initiative called REDD+ to protect forests and reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere.



REDD stands for Reduction of Emission from Deforestation and forest Degradation. It is an initiative focused on ensuring levels of deforestation are reduced worldwide and forest degradation is minimized. This objective is achieved through protection of the forest and supporting the communities living in close proximity through improving livelihoods and reducing dependence on the forest. A REDD project is funded through the sale of ‘carbon credits’ that are created as a result of protecting the forest. The number of credits a project can sell is calculated by measuring how much carbon the trees in the forest store and how much carbon dioxide would be released if the area was not protected by the project. The buyers of credits are usually Governments, companies or individuals often in the Western world. The buyers are interested in reducing carbon emissions as well as in protecting the biodiversity of the forest and in ensuring that local communities benefit from the REDD project too. By buying credits they are paying others to reduce the emissions that they cannot manage to do in their own countries.



Covering a land area of nearly 71,000 hectares, GRNP is developing a REDD+ Project; the key objectives of this project are protection of the national park, improved livelihoods for the community people around the national park and enhanced biodiversity. The project will generate credits by reducing deforestation, if deforestation is not reduced in the GRNP or if deforestation increases from current levels in the 4km area around the Park there will be less income from carbon credits and therefore less money available for the project. If there is less money for the project then there will be less money to share as benefits with the communities. The project therefore requests the support of the local communities to ensure that the boundaries are respected and the project is a success.



The GRNP REDD project is a government project, jointly developed and implemented with the two civil society partners – the Conservation Society of Sierra Leone and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. The GRNP REDD project will be managed by a company based in Sierra Leone which is managed by the three partners. Initial studies show that the GRNP REDD project can generate around 215,000 carbon credits for sale every year for up to thirty years. Depending on market value of carbon credits, this will generate between 1-1.4million USD per year, which is enough to implement all the proposed activities of the project, thereby ushering in a new era of forest conservation and management.

---