Uganda has become the first country in Africa to undertake a reforestation project eligible for carbon credits under the Kyoto Protocol.
The Nile Basin Reforestation Project in Uganda is being implemented by Uganda’s National Forestry Authority (NFA) in association with local community organizations. The growing trees absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, in exchange for revenues from the World Bank BioCarbon Fund paid to NFA and the communities.
“This is a milestone for Uganda, especially considering the difficulty associated with bringing reforestation projects to this stage of final approval. I am happy that apart from providing physical financial resources, the project will also generate up to 700 jobs for the local population,” said Kundhavi Kadiresan, World Bank Country Manager for Uganda.
The Ugandan project is one of only eight reforestation projects world-wide that have been approved to date, seven of which were registered this year. The project will generate about 500 jobs during planting and 200 jobs during ongoing management of the forest.
“The Uganda project is the first of several projects that are in the United Nations Clean Development Mechanism pipeline for registration, and which can lead to strong co-benefits, including higher incomes for local communities and greater climate resilience”, says Ellysar Baroudy, Fund Manager for the BioCarbon Fund of the Carbon Finance Unit of the World Bank.
The project will establish a plantation of pine and mixed native species in the Rwoho Central Forest Reserve, grasslands that were degraded due to deforestation and erosion. This project is an example of sustainable forest management in a country that currently only has a few thousand hectares left of timber plantations. The expansion of wood resources in Uganda is crucial for the country to meet a growing demand of wood and to reduce the pressure on the remaining native forests in the country. This is the first of five small scale projects developed through the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), where each will be registered separately and the total size of the plantation will ultimately reach 2,137 hectares.
“This pilot project has equipped the NFA with the skills and contacts required to develop more carbon forestry projects in Uganda. Also, the project demonstrates that small-scale farmers can benefit from the international carbon market,” observes Damian Akankwasa, Executive Director of NFA.
The BioCarbon Fund is an initiative with public and private contributions. It purchases emission reductions from afforestation and reforestation projects under the CDM, as well as from land-use sector projects outside the CDM, such as projects that reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) and increase carbon sequestration in soils through improved agriculture practices.
“Forestry and agriculture in Africa are areas where we see great potential for carbon projects and a win-win opportunity for the climate change agenda. Through climate-smart land management and forest conservation, Africa can play a vital role in carbon sequestration and climate regulation. Scaling up these practices is a priority, as they also have great potential for providing sustainable livelihoods for rural Africans,” says Inger Andersen, Director, Sustainable Development (Africa Region) for the World Bank.
The announcement of this first forestry project in Africa coincides with an important meeting of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bangkok. This is the penultimate negotiating session before Copenhagen in December where governments hope to agree on an ambitious and effective international climate change deal.
Forest issues are a key part of the talks. Until now, only reforestation and afforestation have been part of the CDM. Negotiators are currently discussing not only the streamlining of CDM rules, which have been a challenge to implement, but also whether it should include more land use activities such as the restoration of wetlands, agriculture and REDD. If this is achieved, poor rural communities, especially in Africa, will be able to implement more land use and forestry projects and benefit from carbon revenues from sustainable development.
In Related News…
A report today in The Guardian states that UN-sanctioned reforestation programs come with a risk, but that they must be attempted. Read the report at the link below.
This is really commendable! Investing in tree planting to protect Uganda’s vanishing forests is an exciting development that calls for international applause.
@Jamil – I wouldn’t be so quick to applaud this sort of development. Reforestation has its advantages if orchestrated properly, but Uganda in particular has a horrific history associated with the industry. Historically, “reforestation” in Uganda has been synonymous with burning down villages and displacing communities – and the carbon benefit is unclear, regardless, as these trees are often cut down before they have a chance to soak up the expected amount of CO2. We have to be careful. That’s why my company, Footprint Zeroed which markets and sells carbon offsets, will never send funds to reforestation projects, particularly in Uganda.
Robb, I am actually from Uganda. I can not really fully back your claims. Much as forests have been indeed cleared in some regions but villages have not been burned down. I am an Environmental Engineer and actually studied environmental policy. Robb, you will agree with me that attaining high environmental quality at the same time meeting development goals is a big challenge. Poor countries like Uganda live with trajic choices. So, I belive if developing counties with trajic choices like Uganda come up with such initiatives, then we should give them support and challenge them to improve.
Robb, I will pick it up from there.
Hi Jamil,
I agree, a balance needs to be found. Uganda has not found it.
http://americanradioworks.publicradio.org/features/greenrush/c1.html
Read this for some firsthand accounts.
Regardless of whether their villages were burned or people were peacefully relocated, it’s not a solution. As the CEO of a company that purchases and retires CO2 credits, I can tell you there are far too many ethical concerns surrounding reforestation, and not solely in Africa, of course, to have it a part of our portfolio as an organization.