Rufunsa District, Zambia
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Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project Rufunsa District, Zambia Roan antelope (Hippotragus equinus) photographed on Rufunsa Conservancy Project Design Document To the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance Standards (2nd Edition) March 8th, 2013 www.biocarbonpartners.com Date of Issue: March 2013 Sectoral Scope: VCS Sectoral Scope 14, REDD Methodology: VM0009 Standard Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance Standard Prepared by: BioCarbon Partners Contact: BioCarbon Partners 6 Tukuluho Road Longacres, Lusaka, Zambia www.biocarbonpartners.com [email protected] BCP Contributing Authors: Hassan Sachedina, Leon-Jacques Theron, Molly Crystal and Wesley Roberts Technical Advice Provided by: ecoPartners LLC About BioCarbon Partners BCP is an African-headquartered and majority African citizen owned REDD+ development social enterprise. BCP’s vision is to ensure that most benefits of African forests are retained within Africa. BCP’s mission is to reduce poverty and to enhance conservation through the forest carbon markets. BCP’s hallmarks are a focus on dryland forest REDD+ projects in Africa, as well as local presence, access and expertise. BioCarbon Partners has an experienced team of African professionals. BCP’s management staff have accumulated a combined total experience of 101 years of professional conservation and development implementation in Africa. BCP has launched Zambia’s first pilot REDD+ demonstration project known as the ‘Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project’. Acknowledgements: BioCarbon Partners is grateful to the Government of Zambia, especially the Forestry Department within the Ministry of Lands, Natural Resources and Environmental Protection, Chongwe and Rufunsa District Councils, the Zambia Wildlife Authority within the Ministry of Tourism and Arts, the Zambia Development Agency, and the Zambia Environmental Management Agency. We are thankful for the support of the Director of the Forestry Department, Mrs. Anna Masinja and the National REDD+ Coordinator, Mr. Deuteronomy Kasaro. We are truly appreciative for the support and partnership of the Soli Shamifwi Royal Establishment, Headmen and communities of Ndubulula, Namanongo, Chilimba and Mweeshang’ombe zones. We thank the owners, staff and management of Sable Transport Limited, the landowners of Rufunsa Conservancy, in particular the Alloo family. We are grateful to the support of our partners and investors, such as Musika, CSEF, UNDP/AMSCO, EWB Canada and DfID/BIF. We appreciate the technical advice of ecoPartners LLC, in particular Kyle Holland, Ben Caldwell and Paul Spraycar. We thank Client Earth for technically reviewing our community engagement operating procedures pro bono. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................... I! LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................... II! ACRONYMS .................................................................................. III! EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................. IV! GENERAL SECTION ........................................................................ 1! G1. Original Conditions in the project area ........................................................................................ 1! G2. Baseline Projections .................................................................................................................. 46! G3. Project Design and Goals ......................................................................................................... 59! G4. Management Capacity and Best Practices ............................................................................. 104! G5. Legal Status and Property Rights ........................................................................................... 118! CLIMATE SECTION ..................................................................... 130! CL1. Net Positive Climate Impacts ................................................................................................ 130! CL2. Offsite Climate Impacts ......................................................................................................... 132! CL3. Climate Impact Monitoring ..................................................................................................... 137! COMMUNITY SECTION ................................................................ 139! CM1. Net Positive Community Impacts ......................................................................................... 139! CM2. Offsite Stakeholder Impacts ................................................................................................. 145! CM3. Community Impact Monitoring .............................................................................................. 146! BIODIVERSITY SECTION ............................................................ 151! B1. Net Positive Biodiversity Impacts ............................................................................................ 151! B2. Offsite Biodiversity Impacts ..................................................................................................... 154! B3. Biodiversity Impact Monitoring ................................................................................................. 155! GOLD LEVEL SECTION ............................................................... 157! GL1. Climate Change Adaptation Benefits .................................................................................... 157! GL2. Exceptional Community Benefits .......................................................................................... 166! GL3. Exceptional Biodiversity Benefits .......................................................................................... 172! REFERENCES ............................................................................ 173! LIST OF APPENDICES ................................................................ 176! LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Situational Analysis of Rufunsa Conservancy in relation to Lower Zambezi NP, Mana Pools NP, Chiawa Game Management Area and the Great East Road. ......................................................... 2! Figure 2. Soil types a), DEM b) and slope map c) of the Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project indicating similarities between the project area and leakage area. ........................................................................ 4! Figure 3. Land cover map of Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project showing vegetation stratification, project area and accounting area. Also included is deforestation in the Reference Area and Project Zone up to 2010. .................................................................................................................................................. 7! Figure 4. Location of Lower Zambezi REDD+ project, Rufunsa District, Zambia. The map outlines the project area, project zone, communities and portion of the leakage area as well as the reference region used for calculating deforestation rates. ..................................................................................... 8! Figure 5. Mean Annual Income per Household and Standard Error of the Mean within Project Zone of the Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project. .................................................................................................... 20! Figure 6. Mean Annual Per Capita Income Within Project Zone. ........................................................ 21! Figure 7. Income Distribution (Across 90 Households). ...................................................................... 21! Figure 8. Mean Percentage of Incomes Derived from Various Income Sources. ................................ 22! Figure 9. Mean Percentage of Household Incomes from Jobs, by type. ............................................. 24! Figure 10. a) Percentage of Total Zone Population Deriving Income from Charcoal Production and b) Average % Income Dependency Among Producers, by Zone. ........................................................... 25! Figure 11. Average Percentage of Household Expenses, by Expense Type. ..................................... 26! Figure 12. Typical project deforestation pattern: a) large scale commercial charcoal production; followed by b) subsistence agriculture (with smoking charcoal kiln in background using trees from this field). Tree stumps in the foreground are burned out in the first years of farming. This, combined with unsustainable farming practices and crop residue burning, leads to emissions. ................................. 28! Figure 13. Ethnicity of Survey Respondents Across Zones. ................................................................ 30! Figure 14. Overloaded charcoal truck in Namanongo Zone. ............................................................... 47! Figure 15. Cumulative Deforestation Model for Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project. ............................... 52! Figure 16. The threatened perimeter and perimeter within 120m of deforestation of the project area of the Lower Zambezi REDD+ Project. .................................................................................................... 53! Figure 17. A large charcoal kiln in Namanongo Zone. The three people in the foreground provide scale regarding the size of the kiln. It is difficult to maintain efficiency with such large kilns. ............. 65! Figure 18. Locations of eco-charcoal sites. Ndubulula site has been launched and enumerated (green) while Namanongo is pending (red). .......................................................................................