Planning for the World Bank Biocarbon Fund

By Paul L. Woomer

The World Bank has established a $100 million fund to facilitate carbon offset projects, The Biocarbon Fund.  FORMAT intends to take leadership in explaining this opportunity to Kenya’s rural development community and possibly to develop a collaborative proposal for this fund.  This fund does not award grants, rather it “purchases” carbon for $10 to $15 per ton that is sequestered through “Clean Development Mechanism” compliant projects, such as tree planting (reforestation) in lands where forests were cleared prior to 1990 and are currently used to produce annual field crops.  The minimum project must forecast 100,000 t C sequestration, worth about $1 million with 15% ($150,000) paid in advance.  Dr. Ian Noble is the manager of this fund, and a related one, The Community Carbon Fund.  The project process is initiated by preparing an eight page “PIN” statement.  More details and the PIN form and subsequent application procedures may be obtained from the World Bank’s internet site www.biocarbonfund.org.

FORMAT and SACRED Africa will convene a planning process where our NGO and CBO partners are familiarized with the Biocarbon Fund and prepare a joint project proposal.  The project could establish useful trees in smallhold farmers’ land but must include guarantees that participating farmers will care for them during the project “lifetime”.  For example, if 5000 farmers (50 members of 100 CBOs) planted 100 trees each (500,000 trees total) at a 4 m x 4 m spacing (0.16 ha) and each of those trees grew to a diameter of 30 to 35 cm over 10 years, then approximately 100,000 t of C would accrue. Not including project operating costs, each of these farmers would have sequestered $200 worth of carbon (20 t C x $10 per t).  On first impression, this is not very much value for so long a project period, suggesting that little “opportunity” exists for organizing smallholders’ grassroots organizations and other CBOs into “C sequestration teams”.  Furthermore, the project would be expected to raise 500,000 tree seedlings, distribute and establish them for only $0.30 each (about KSh 24).  It appears that such a Biocarbon Project could not stand alone, rather it must be nested into other activities designed to diversify farm enterprises, open markets and improve food security and household nutrition. 

The following process will be undertaken to explore, and possibly exploit, opportunities offered through the Biocarbon Fund:

  1. Information on the Biocarbon Fund is collected and summarized

  2. A list of likely NGO and CBO partners is prepared

  3. The costs of tree seedling production are established and a list of candidate tree species and sources of their seeds is prepared

  4. An information package is developed for candidate NGOs and CBOs, who canvas members’ willingness to participate and identify tree species of interest

  5. The baseline conditions and projected carbon gains are established for different likely scenarios by developing a “user-friendly” spreadsheet

  6. A meeting of interested NGOs and CBOs is organized that possibly assembles a roster of participant farmers and distributes prototype farmer contracts, and, if sufficient interest exists, a PIN will be prepared and submitted to The World Bank