Status: Looking for Investors !!!

Summary

This proposal describes an 18 year sustainable afforestation pilot project in the Biosfera Reserva Sierra Gorda, in east central Mexico. Under the management of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda (GESG), it includes carbon sequestration through planted and natural afforestation of marginal lands currently under corn production, and carbon storage through continuous selective harvests and the generation of wood products.

The project can be tailored to meet specific investor requirements. As presented here, a total investment of $520,000 is needed. With this, ~300 hectares of land will be planted with indigenous species and a further ~300 hectares will be fenced and left to naturally reseed themselves. After nine years a continuous sustainable selective harvest will begin and continue until the eighteenth year. In this manner the project will sequester 49,000 tonnes of carbon (tonnesC). The investor will receive 75 % of the carbon credits (36,700 tonnesC) and also a 7.9% rate of return (ROR) on his initial investment ($646,800, $93,900 NPV6.0). As well, the landowners will receive $996,100 ($576,000 NPV6.0).

The project is a modification of an existing afforestation program. The modification includes measures to alleviate leakage (landowner incentives, creation of a Trust and landowners’ co-operative and continuous harvesting), and the costs of verification and monitoring. The extra measures cost $7.54/tonneC ($5.96 NPV6.0). The investment funds will flow through a Trust to a co-operative of participating landowners. They will receive incentive payments in the form of food or seed equivalent to the value of a crop of corn that would have been harvested from their land. These payments will allow landowners to afford to grow trees until a harvest can begin (9 years). The incentive payments will also avoid the leakage that might occur if landowners clear tree plantations to plant a cash crop such as corn.

The Biosfera Reserva Sierra Gorda has applied to become a member of the International Model Forest Network. Using this connection, expertise to implement sustainable forest management practices will be obtained. The objective is to harvest these plantations on a selective and sustained yield basis. This will allow landowners to break the corn production cycle and become involved in agroforestry.

The non-government organization, GESG, is a quality project proponent. They have already planted over 2 million trees, built fuel efficient stoves for 1350 families, and installed over 500 dry composting latrines.

Benefits of the Project

• The investor will receive 36,700 tonnes of carbon. The flow of carbon credits to the investor will commence in year one of the project.
• The investor will receive a 7.9% return on investment as well as the carbon credits.
• Landowners involved in the project will receive income of $258,900 more than they would receive from production of corn. This will improve the economic standing of these landowners.
• There are significant environmental benefits including improvements to soil and water quality and supply.
• The region will receive considerable information about and practice in sustainable forest management as a result of incoming investment and participation in the International Model Forest Network.
• The project will contribute to the overall efforts of GESG to influence the culture of this region of Mexico. The region as a whole will become more environmentally aware. The sustainable use of resources will become more common in practice.
• Experience gained from this project will be shared with other regions in Mexico and other developed and developing countries.
• Experience gained from this project will contribute to the technical (i.e. tree growth and carbon uptake), social, environmental and economic knowledge of Climate Change and the Joint Implementation mechanism.

Location

The exact location of the 600 hectares is still to be determined, but they will be located in the vicinity of Jalpan, Querétaro in the Biosfera Reserva Sierra Gorda (see maps below). This area includes the north facing Sierra Madre Oriental which traps moisture from the Gulf of Mexico.

Greenhouse Gas Sources and Sinks

Baseline

Project

Note: Emission from management includes CH4, and NxO from fuel usage converted to CO2 using GHG potentials.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of sinks and sources of carbon over the lifetime of the project. In this diagram sinks are positive and sources are negative.

Within the project there are three obvious carbon stocks, the standing trees, soil and roots & litter. As well, the harvest creates carbon stocks in wood products and displaced fossil fuels. The three types of wood products, long-lived (LLP), short-lived (SLP) and very short-lived (VSLP), act to delay the emissions of the harvest. The biofuel emissions displace fossil fuel emissions that would have occurred anyway. It is assumed that no wood products go to VSLP (paper products), and that SLP and LLP (building materials and furniture) are created in equal amounts. Figure 2 displays the distribution of stocks over the lifetime of the project.

Following procedures outlined in our AWMA paper, the uncertainties in the input variables lead to a distribution of possible outcomes (figure 3). Allowing for these uncertainties, the project will capture 49,535 ± 6,450 tonnesC. The point estimate is 48,951 tonnesC. To compensate for this variability (~13%) and insure against leakage, 25% of sequestered carbon will be held in reserve.

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Last updated: 01-Apr-97

This webpage was written and designed by D. Neil Bird.
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