Forests Alive: A case study on Forest Protection and Avoided Emission Projects By Lawrence Rimmer and Beatriz Garcia INTRODUCTION Forests Alive is an Australian owned private company established in 2008 (formerly known as Redd Forests) with the objective of providing the most secure and effective emissions avoidance projects by protecting native forests. We aim to demonstrate the carbon and biodiversity value of protecting and restoring natural forests and other ecosystems. Our goals include: providing an economic alternative to local communities that protects natural ecosystems and improves livelihoods; and promoting understanding and education on the role of natural ecosystems in the carbon cycle. Forests Alive pilot project was the first in the world to validate avoided emissions projects under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCBS, soon to be verified). Forests Alive implemented the first VCS Grouped Project to be validated and verified globally. Today, Forests Alive represents 13 landowners, protecting 36,000 ha of native forest in Tasmania. Our projects help avoid over 260,000 tonnes of carbon emissions each year, and generate over 220,000 carbon credits, which provide landowners with an alternative source of income for protecting their forest. Forests Alive focus on forest protection projects rather than tree planting for the following reasons; Native Forest Protection Forest Planting Carbon Dual benefit; Avoiding Carbon Sequestration emissions from logging and continued carbon sequestration Biodiversity Protects the biodiversity in the Little biodiversity benefit arises native forests, in Tasmania this from planting forest for the includes endangered Wedge- ecosystem requires time to Tailed Eagles, Tasmanian establish Spotted Quolls and the iconic Tasmanian Devil Risks Australian native forest There is increasing risk for fire ecosystems are resilient and and drought due to climate relatively low risk having change that challenges the evolved to cope with fire, success of young trees reaching drought, pests and disease maturity. The system takes time to become robust to high levels of disturbance THE PILOT PROJECT Forests Alive’ pilot project is located in the Northern Midlands of Tasmania with a total area of 865 ha of native forest. Land use in the region is primarily agriculture (grazing and cropping) with some forestry. The project is on private land of a family who have owned and logged the land for over hundred years. The site was therefore under threat of continued selective logging which prevents natural regeneration of degraded forest. Some of the dominant species are among the tallest hardwood trees in the world. The project site also has a rich biodiversity, including 29 endangered species on site and/or within a 5km radius. The project uses the VCS- approved VM0010 Methodology and was estimated to produce 4,956 voluntary carbon units a year for the 25-year duration of the project. After initial assessment, Forests Alive signed an agreement with the project proponent in March 2010, which is the start date of the project. The first validation event occurred in March 2011 and 7,500 VCUs were then issued. THE GROUPED PROJECT The “Grouped Project” was first validated in July 2011, and verified in September of the same year. The structure of a grouped project allows for new instances to enter the project after the project has officially started. A crediting period is implemented at the start of the grouped project, which runs the length of the project, and the additional instances added after the start of the project would claim credits for the remainder of that project crediting period. A crediting period must have a minimum of 20 years1, which limits the time in which instances can be added into the grouped project. The instances have monitoring events at the same time and all costs from monitoring are subsequently shared; a major benefit for landowners within a grouped project. In the first round of Validation, three instances were added to the project. The following year, a further five instances were added into the project, totaling 8 overall instances. The grouped project now protects almost 21,000 ha of native forest in Tasmania, and the project avoids an average 169,103 tCO2-e of emissions annually. 1 http://v-c-s.org/faqs/what-project-crediting-period-under-vcs-program HOW FOREST PROTECTION PROJECTS WORK Forests Alive implements the VCS-IFM methodology VM0010, “Methodology for Improved Forest Management: Conversion of Logged to Protected Forest” which was first approved on the 11th February 20122. Forests Alive have validated three projects which use this methodology, the Pilot Project, our second project (the “Grouped Project”), and a third landowner project3. Before a project starts, a feasibility study is undertaken to determine whether the land put forward is eligible. There are several pre-requisites, including the requirement for a minimum area of native forest, that there is a legal intent to harvest the forests within the project area, that the intent is not to convert the native forest to plantation (the methodology only addresses the plan to log native forest and reseed with native seed stock), and that the land is not considered to be protected from harvesting activities (e.g. by a logging covenant). Typically, the feasibility study involves landowner interviews, site visits, and a desktop analysis using Geographical Information Software (GIS). Once a project area has been defined and considered to be eligible, the technical specialist will begin to stratify the forest area for sampling purposes. The stratification process is essential for identifying potential causes of variability that will be discovered by sampling. Sources of variation include the mix of different species, when the areas were last logged, and the density of the forest. The stratification process reduces sampling error. Once stratification is complete, a fieldwork sampling strategy is created by randomly assigning plots to different strata and a team is sent out to take tree measurements. Plot sizes are 2,025 m2 (0.2025 ha). The number of plots required for each strata is determined by Winrock International Sampling Calculator4, which analysis the mean and standard deviation value of carbon in all plots for each strata. An error level of 15%, and a confidence level of 95% determine the number of plots required. The standard for measuring trees includes taking the Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) and tree height. A merchantable volume of timber is calculated for each plot using the data gathered which is processed in the Farm Forestry Toolbox5, and then the plots are converted into tonnes of Carbon per hectare (tC/ha) for each strata. These values then contribute to the modeling and calculation phase of the projects where carbon removed in projected harvesting events can be calculated and these emissions are converted into VCUs. Sequestration of CO2 is included in the modeling process, which simulates forest growth. The Australian Governments’ ‘Full Carbon Accounting Model’6 (FullCAM) is used to simulate forest growth over the project period. 2 http://v-c-s.org/methodologies/VM0010 3https://vcsprojectdatabase2.apx.com/myModule/Interactive.asp?Tab=Projects&a=1&t=1 4 http://www.winrock.org/ecosystems/tools.asp 5 http://www.privateforests.tas.gov.au/products/farm_forestry_toolbox 6 http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/initiatives/ncat/ncat-toolbox-cd.aspx A non permanence risk buffer is determined using VCS guidelines for removing a certain percentage of credits for project insurance purposes. “Non-permanence” is the way of calculating the risk of the project (or carbon stocks) not to remain intact until the end of the project period. For example; the buffer takes into consideration changes in the credit market, the timber market, leakage, natural disturbance, and political uncertainty. The risk is described as a percentage of credits held back in case the carbon stock is lost. If an unforeseen event does occur, such as a bush fire, the credits held back in the buffer can be used to offset the loss of carbon as a result. Currently, the risk buffer for the Tasmanian projects is reasonably low compared to other forest projects. The buffer has been calculated to be 14.5% of the annual issuance of credits. Once the project calculations are complete, independent validators must examine the whole process. This ensures any errors in the process can be identified and adds an extra layer of certainty to the final value produced. On top of this, the projects undergo a monitoring event every year (to check the project is still being correctly implemented by the landowner), and fieldwork is conducted every five years to validate the model outputs. The process for implementing these projects can take time, as the fieldwork, calculations, and validation processes are quite lengthy. Typically, a landowner would have to wait up to 12 months before the first VCUs are issued. THE STANDARDS The principle standard of our IFM projects in Tasmania is the Verified Carbon Standard7. This is an internationally recognised standard for carbon offsets. The Pilot project is validated under an additional standard - the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standard (CCB)8. This standard recognises the benefits our projects provide to biodiversity and rural communities in Tasmania. The pilot project is being submitted for verification and after this, these credits will hold both VCS and CCB standard labels. The Australian Government introduced a National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS), to “provide national consistency and consumer confidence in the voluntary carbon market”9. The Tasmanian projects are the only NCOS credits generated in Australia with the exception of those credits generated for the Australian domestic market under the Carbon Farming Initiative (CFI). 7 http://v-c-s.org/ 8 http://www.climate-standards.org/ 9 http://www.climatechange.gov.au/ncos THE BENEFITS Despite credits being used to offset a company’s emissions, these projects have greater, far-reaching benefits that are not limited to climate change.