PDD Cover Page i. Project name: The Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project ii. Project location (country, sub-national jurisdiction(s)): Kenya, Makueni County, Taita Taveta County and Kajiado County iii. Project Proponent (organization and contact name with email address and phone number): Project Proponent: Chyulu Hills Conservation Trust Contact Name: Jeremy Freund Email: [email protected] Phone: (415) 637-7853 iv. Auditor (organization and contact name with email address and phone number): Organization: SCS Global Services Contact Name: Christie Pollet-Young Email: [email protected] Phone: (510) 452.9093 v. Project start date, GHG accounting period and lifetime: Project start date: 19 September, 2013 GHG accounting period: 19 September 2013 – 19 September, 2043 Project lifetime: 19 September 2013 – 19 September, 2043 vi. Whether the document relates to a full validation or a gap validation: This PD relates to a full validation. vii. History of CCB Status, where appropriate, including issuance date(s) of earlier Validation/ Verification Statements etc.: No existing CCB history including any prior issuance or earlier validation statements. viii. The edition of the CCB Standards being used for this validation This project is being validated under the 2nd Edition of the CCB Standard. ix. A brief summary of the project’s expected climate, community and biodiversity benefits: The CHRP aims to generate benefits in the areas of climate, community and biodiversity under both the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) standards. Its specific climate related goals are to prevent the emission of 37,765,494 t CO2e over the project’s 30 year crediting period by stopping deforestation, forest degradation and grassland conversion. This will be achieved largely by enhancing and strengthening landscape protection, improving livestock management practices, employing forest rangers, bolstering employee motivation, creating alternative income, jobs and employment opportunities, and supporting stricter environmental law enforcement. Furthermore, it aspires to restore degraded forest and grassland areas, which will increase the quantity of sequestered carbon from woody biomass and soil. The establishment of tree nurseries, reforestation programs and other afforestation / reforestation (A/R) efforts are examples of some initiatives that will be undertaken to this end. x. Which optional Gold Level criteria are being used and a brief description of the attributes that enable the project to qualify for each relevant Gold Level: The Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project qualifies for Gold Level certification because of the exceptional benefits it will provide to the Climate, Community and Biodiversity aspects of the Project Area and Project Zone. Climate benefits include project activities to improve and diversify agricultural practices, mitigating the effects of the prolonged and more intense droughts due to climate change. Additionally, local institutional capacity building and the protection of the natural ecosystem will provide resilience in the community and natural systems to adapt to the effects of climate change. As Kenya is a classified as a low human development country by the UNDP, and experiences a high degree of poverty, inequality and population growth, the project will provide community benefits in the form of revenue sharing, alternative livelihood development, jobs, sustainable infrastructure development, environmental awareness & education and the introduction of many other environmentally friendly ideas. The project will utilize a benefit sharing mechanism that ensure all households are treated with equality, regardless of social or economic standing. Additionally, project benefits are designed to fight the root sources of poverty, providing new opportunities to local communities. Biodiversity benefits include protection and conservation of the many IUCN Red listed species within the project zone, including the Eastern Black Rhino, which is listed as an IUCN critically endangered species. The project has undertaken a number of measures to protect the habitats of these spectacular, yet endangered species and is committed to increasing their populations. xi. Date of completion of this version of the PDD, and version number, as appropriate, and Date: June 23rd, 2015 Version: 1.42 xii. Expected schedule for verification, if known. January, 2016 PROJECT DESCRIPTION VCS Version 3, CCB Standards Second Edition The Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project Project Title Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project Version 1.42 Date of Issue 23 June 2015 Prepared By Wildlife Works Carbon Contact Jeremy T. Freund, VP Carbon Development, [email protected] v3.0 1 PROJECT DESCRIPTION VCS Version 3, CCB Standards Second Edition ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project has been developed through a highly effective collaborative process between communities, landowners, public agencies, not for profit organizations and private sector partners. The partner organizations bring their strong commitment to conserving the Chyulu Hills Ecosystem together with an impressive range of skills and knowledge that are needed to develop and implement a successful and multi-faceted conservation project that integrates protection of an iconic ecosystem with supporting the economic and social well-being of local communities. It is therefore important to acknowledge the organizations and individuals for their distinct contributions. Firstly we acknowledge the group of landholders who are traditional and long-term stewards of the Chyulu ecosystem. These include the Maasai leaders and people of the communally owned group ranches (Kuku, Kuku A, Rombo and Mbirikani) and the two community led non-profit organizations, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust (MWCT) and Big Life Foundation that support them in protecting their land and improving the lives of their communities. Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) and Kenya Forest Service (KFS) hold and manage land in the Chyulu Hills landscape in trust for the benefit and enjoyment of the people of Kenya. We thank their respective Directors, headquarters staff, wardens, and field rangers. From KWS, we would especially like to acknowledge the support and contributions by Dr. Erustus Kanga, Jane Wamboi, Robert Obrein, Godfrey Wakaba, Mathias Mwavita, Thomas Ogola and Ettah Muango. Within KFS, Alfred Gichu has strongly supported the work and its linkage to Kenya’s National REDD program and Esther Keige has provided important legal counsel. The leadership and input from Samson Parashina and Luca Belpietro, Chairman and Director of MWCT; Richard Bonham, Craig Millar, Samar Ntalamia, and Jeremy Goss from the Big Life Foundation; and Neville Sheldrick and James Mbuthia from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust (DSWT) have been essential to the success of the development of the project On the ground, The Chyulu Hills REDD+ project also would not have come about without the dedicated work of the Free Prior Informed Consent (FPIC) Officers, who spent many hours in community meetings and answering questions. Thank you to Rose Malenya and Alfred Masila (KWS), Daniel Ole Sambu and Anthony Kasanga (BLF), and Joseph Lairumbe and Danson Mositet (MWCT). A special thanks to Laurian Lenjo and Joseph Mwakima from Wildlife Works (WW) who provided guidance and assistance in the FPIC process across the entire landscape. Much praise is due to the teams who spent hundreds of hours in rugged field conditions to obtain vegetation measurements in the sample plots. This includes Mwololo Muasa as plot sampling leader, Joshua Kitiro, Moses Mwamodo, Mathias Mutule, Cyprian Mwawasi as team leaders and all of their respective team members. A very special thanks goes to Jamie Hendriksen from Wildlife Works for overall supervision and operational management of the plot team. Additionally, we’d like to thank Lana Muller and Dirk Van der Goes of MWCT for their supervision of the plot sampling, data entry and general collaboration with the PDD. We express our gratitude to Guy Elms from Raffman, Dhanji, Elms and Virdee; Max Cairnduff, Kelly Rissotti, Clare Berry, and Kamilka Malwatte from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer; Liz Gitari from the Kenya Land Conservation Trust (KLCT); and Sophie May Chapman from Cambridge University for their invaluable legal advice. Special thanks goes to the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) for their generous financial, technical, and operational support, in particular to David Loubser and Kathleen Fitzgerald. A sincere thank you to Conservation International (CI) who provided an important facilitative role, financial support, technical advice, and co-ordination of the legal work, particularly Chris Tuite. v3.0 2 PROJECT DESCRIPTION VCS Version 3, CCB Standards Second Edition Final acknowledgements go to the team of authors who have contributed their skills in various ways to developing this project document under the leadership of WW. Thank you to Mike Korchinsky and to Jeremy Freund as the overall leaders of the process, to Christina Ender for her perseverance and skill in authoring the CCB sections of the PDD and to Simon Bird for expertly coordinating the VCS sections, Cathy Zambrano, Sharifa Abdi, Angie Adkins, Mwangi Githiru, Yuni Nunokawa, Bryan Adkins, Rob Dodson and Cara Braund. The Chyulu Hills Ecosystem is one of Kenya’s most unique landscapes. Ecologically and culturally rich, this landscape represents the best of Kenya’s natural and cultural heritage. Thank you to all the partners in this project who are