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Kenyan Smallhold Carbon Project: Carbon Sequestration and Land Rehabilitation in Smallhold Landscapes of Western Kenya
The World Bank has established a $100 million Biocarbon Fund to facilitate carbon offset projects. This fund will provide finance to projects that sequester or remove greenhouse gases in forests, agricultural and other ecosystems. 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 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. More details about application procedures may be obtained from the Fund’s website www.biocarbonfund.org.
The Kenya Smallhold Carbon Project seeks to secure a loan of US $225633 (= KSh 17.3 million) to establish and maintain 500,000 trees over two years on smallholder lands in western Kenya, to document resulting carbon gains and sell them through the World Bank Biocarbon Fund. The strategy includes sensitization campaigns to promote participation of smallholders in carbon sequestration activities; establishment of tree nurseries and subsequent planting of trees in woodlots, contour strips and hillsides; monitoring of tree growth and estimation of tree carbon; repayment of the loan to the World Bank and thereafter C payments issued to the project and its cooperators. Households will be recruited through their local land care associations and self-help groups. It is anticipated that the project will be in position to repay the loan within five years and the trees will remain the property of the farmers at the end of the project. Useful products will also be obtained from the trees which will greatly exceed their values as carbon, which in turn would contribute to permanence of the trees planted.
A two-day meeting of 40 stakeholders was convened by FORMAT and SACRED Africa on 15 and 16 April 2004 at the Savona Isle Resort in Kakamega. The purpose of the meeting was to mobilize and familiarize the stakeholders with The World Bank Biocarbon Fund, and, to refine and operationalize a joint proposal to the Fund. The meeting was also used to identify cooperators willing to participate in the project, identify candidate tree species and sources of their seeds, and establish the costs of tree seedling production. The meeting was a major undertaking by the organizers to open up access to the benefits of carbon finance to smallholders, build local capacity to benefit from carbon finance and to demonstrate local capacities to the World Bank Biocarbon Fund. The conditions, procedure and format of the proposals to be submitted to the fund were presented to, and discussed by the workshop’s participants.
The resource persons provided definitions and applications of carbon sequestration, and methods and tools for measuring carbon. A demonstration on field measurements of carbon and a tree-based carbon projection utility using Microsoft Excel spreadsheet was given. A short field excursion around the hotel was conducted to measure the circumference and estimate the biomass carbon of several trees of differing morphologies. The spreadsheet is intended to develop carbon projections from tree plantings in the tropics based upon 11 user-defined inputs with options provided for tree root and soil C gains. Carbon is then priced as CO2 Emission Reductions. The projections run on a quarterly time step expressed as years (0.25 = 3 month intervals) and may be generated from scales ranging from the individual field (> 0.1 ha) to the project (thousands of ha) level for a maximum of a 20-year project lifetime.
Several farmer associations, research, business and non-governmental organizations attending the workshop indicated their willingness to participate within the project in different capacities. Farmer associations, CBOs and NGOs will mobilize farmers to establish tree nurseries and plant seedlings in their farms, schools, churches and hillsides. The research, government and business organizations will provide technical assistance to the project in nursery establishment, seed selection, forest management and agroforestry training. Most of the organizations have existing tree planting activities with some being smaller scale at group level while others are large-scale, extending across various districts. The organizations are involved in reforestation of degraded lands, training and promotion of agroforestry and forestry, and various environmental conservation activities. This work is being undertaken through farmers’ associations, schools and youth groups. A new network for carbon offsets was proposed among the participants while other organizations with experience and established farmer networks will also be recruited into the project.
A mixture of fruit, woody and agroforestry trees was recommended in order to minimize the risk of tree harvest by expanding opportunities for food aong participating households. Tree species considered by most organizations include avocado, mango, tamarind, moringa, guava, neem, casuarina, calliandra, leaucaena, elgon teak, bamboo, Spathodea campanulata, Acacia abbysinica, Acacia polyacantha, Albizia coriara, Warburgia ugandensis, Prunus africana, Albizia gummifera, Annona senegalensis, Juniperus procera, Bersama abysinica, Ziziphus mauritiana, Grevillea robusta, Milicia excelsa, Combretum mole, Markamia lutea, Entada abbysinica, Podocarpus falcatus, Cordia abbysinica, Zythoxylum gillettii and Ficus natalensis.
Participants observed that it is important for FORMAT and SACRED-Africa to harmonize the budget to cater for new and emerging needs, and to ensure no conflict of interest arises between the groups’ objectives and carbon sequestration activities. It was recommended that participating groups to undertake tree nursery establishment and sell the seedlings to the project. The participants proposed formation of a task force comprising stakeholders. The task force will
Participants were drawn from 21 districts including Trans-Nzoia, Bungoma, Kericho, Kakamega, Kisumu, Rachuonyo, Homabay, Teso, Mt. Elgon, Butere/Mumias, Lugari, Teso, Migori, Nandi, Busia, Siaya, Bondo, Vihiga, West Pokot and Nyando. Two sugar companies (Mumias and Nzoia) and some NGOs (Africa Now, Adventist Development and Relief Agency, and VI Agroforestry) prepared to contribute to the project given their on-going tree planting activities with farmers, hillside reforestation and tea estates. Mumias and Nzoia Sugar companies indicated that they plan to plant 300 and 100 ha of their deforested estates, respectively, to produce biofuel. The companies also provide agricultural extension activities among their out-growers that could contribute to the project. In total, the participants have the potential to raise about 4 million seedlings and mobilize over 86000 farmers (about 287 groups of 30 members each) to participate in a carbon offset project covering 21 districts of west Kenya. An average price of KSh 25 per tree seedling was calculated from the various proposals put forward by the participants.
There will be a need to improve marketing capacities for participating groups for the fruit products derived from the project trees. Issues that may arise during the project include change of ownership of land on which trees are planted, theft, fire and change in priorities at the international and national levels. Integration of additional groups and farming activities into the project may strengthen its sustainability. Criteria to be used in choosing suitable carbon project groups include: experience in environmental issues particularly tree planting, willingness and capability based on past performance and the ability of members to set aside land for establishment of woodlots. |
