9
of deforestation and no available carbon maps for wetlands, so that establishing a provisional baseline is not possible using available data.
Fish smoking is a very frequent practice in artisanal fishery in West Africa, because it enables a better and longer preservation of the fish, facilitates its transport and sale in regions further
away from the coast and enhances the fish flavor. The use of wood as source of energy for fish smoking is widely practiced in Ghana, using trunks, branches, and other parts of trees.
The particular species of wood used for fuel depends on what is available in a given locality. Although all kinds of inputs such as baskets, basins, grills, basket nets, fuel wood, and brown
paper are used as fuel, trees are preferred. Some smokers use so-called Chorkor kilns and utilize various inputs such as baskets, basins, grills, basket nets, fuel wood, and brown paper.
Fish is processed using a mix of firewood and coconut shells before further smoking it at low temperatures with sugarcane giving the fish a shiny appearance and a higher quality, which is
reflected in the price fetched by the processors.
There are only a few examples of wetland management experiences in Ghana which can be considered related to carbon sequestration activities and none has been formulated under any
relevant international carbon standard. One of these examples was REDO
7
, proposing a new system for producing fuel wood in designated woodlots outside the fragile mangrove ecosys-
tems. REDO chose a fast growing, highly tolerant tree species – Cassia sp. – to plant in the community woodlots. The project duration allowed REDO to remain involved in the area
while the first trees matured and the communities could see the benefits of the alternative. A 30-hectare woodlot was created with each family responsible for a specific section. Giving
specific families a designated area within the community woodlot was crucial to its success. At the same time, the mangroves were rehabilitated and the communities noticed an increase
in crab catches and the size of tilapia, shell and finfish from the Oyibi lagoon during the life of the project. REDO as well as Danone’s mangrove restoration project in Senegal used
extensive showing films about mangrove conservation in the villages and giving the project media coverage on local radios and newspapers to communicate their message and effect
change.
3.3 Overall situation and opportunities for AR projects
The Clean Development Mechanism CDM allows emission-reduction projects in develop- ing countries to earn certified emission reduction CER credits, each, equivalent to one ton
of CO2, which can be traded and sold, and used by industrialized countries to a meet a part of their emission reduction targets under the Kyoto Protocol KP. KP established emission re-
duction targets for industrialized countries for the period 2008 -2012 first commitment peri- od. The second commitment period runs from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2020 inclu-
sive, and countries may continue to participate in existing CDM projects and may also partic- ipate in new CDM projects registered from 1 January 2013 onward.
CDM continues to be an alternative for developing AR projects, while other emerging stand- ards, such as VCS and Gold Standard, can be used as an alternative under the voluntary mar-
kets or when the project does not fit specific rules of AR CDM.
7
http:redoghana.org Project: Mangrove Restoration and Management. Sponsors: NC-IUCN Netherlands Committee of the Interna-
tional Union for the Conservation of Nature. Duration: 1998 – 2001. Venue: Nsuekyir and Sankor, Central Region, Ghana.
10
At country level, Ghana has ratified the KP, has assigned the Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Environment, Science Technology as the Designated National Au-
thority DNA to the KP. Also as a request for developing CDM projects, the country has defined “forest” see Section 4.3.1 - Forest definition and wetlands. Projects to be registered
as CDM activities require the approval of the country DNA.
In order to be approved, an AR CDM project must fulfill a list of requirements of which the most important requirements are analyzed in Section 4.3 - Technical issues. Beyond those
rules, AR CDM projects must contribute to sustainable development, as defined by the coun- try hosting the project.
There are several restrictions limiting potential markets for AR CDM projects. Some im- portant countries in terms of carbon markets such as USA and Australia did not ratify the KP,
while big GHG emitting countries such as China have no emission reduction targets, they are however allowed to host CDM projects. The European Union also limits the trading of AR
CDM credits. These limitations among other reasons, have contributed to the emergence of alternative standards for the so called “voluntary” markets, such as the Verified Carbon
Standard. These standards are briefly analyzed in Section 4.1 - Carbon Standardsregulatory frameworks for ARREDD projects.
Some key elements for successful implementation of AR are: •
Minimum scale to cover carbon related transaction costs. The minimum viable size for an AR project depends on many factors, such as the selected standard, se-
questration potential of used species and technologies and other project characteris- tics. However, as a rule of thumb, a small-scale AR CDM or a VCS project should
have at least an area of 700 ha, while there are CarbonFix now Gold Standard regis- tered projects as small as 250 ha and yet smaller Plan Vivo registered ones. On the
other hand, opportunities for finding carbon buyers will be higher for CDM and VCS. In the case of the Western Ghana wetlands, while it is possible to find enough areas
for establishing a reforestation project, it will be difficult to find enough eligible areas for doing mangroveswetlands restoration see eligibility in Section 4.3.2.
•
Sufficient technical and financial capacity for the implementation of the refor- estation activities. Establishing forest plantations require relatively high investments,
even without considering land acquisition, ranging from some USD500 to 3,000 per hectare depending on the country, species, site preparation, etc. while also requiring
periodic investments for appropriated forest management practices such as pruning, thinning, fertilization, forest protection, infrastructure maintenance, etc. In some cas-
es, these monetary flows are minimized through community participation in forest implementation and maintenance activities. However, many projects having started
as carbon sequestration initiatives have failed in securing funding. This is especially difficult in the case of mangroves, which are mainly planted for restoration, in addi-
tion to the fact that it is not usually feasible doing final clear-cut harvests. In the case of Danone’s mangroves restoration project in Senegal, big areas of mangroves, are
planted by communities and very low investment is done on forest maintenance. On the other hand, these mangroves are not harvested and then carbon credits are the only
source of incomes for granting financial closure of project. In the case of the Western Ghana wetlands, AR eligibility rules, forest definition and mangroves fragmentation
are elements limiting the implementation of such a project design.
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CDM has now two approved methodologies applicable to wetlands, one for regular scale CDM AR projects AR-AM0014 - Afforestation and reforestation of degraded mangrove
habitats - Version 2.0.0 and one for small scale projects AR-AMS0003 Simplified baseline and monitoring methodology for small scale CDM afforestation and reforestation project
activities implemented on wetlands - Version 2.0.
The experience of REDO described above could provide valuable data for assessing the fea- sibility of designing an AR project for mangroves, regarding costs, technologies, community
issues, lessons learned, etc.
3.4 Current state of REDD+ activities in Ghana
