Sofala Community Carbon Project Project Design Document According to CCB and Plan Vivo Standards - WITHOUT ANNEXES - April 2010 TABLE OF CONTENTS I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .......................................................................................... 1 II BASIC INFORMATION ............................................................................................ 3 III GENERAL SECTION ................................................................................................. 4 G1. Original Conditions in the Project Regions ....................................................... 4 G2. Baseline Projections ............................................................................................ 37 G3. Project Design and Goals ................................................................................... 49 G4. Management Capacity and Best Practices ....................................................... 75 G5. Legal Status and Property Rights ..................................................................... 83 IV CLIMATE SECTION ............................................................................................... 87 CL1. Net Positive Climate Impacts .......................................................................... 87 CL2. Offsite Climate Impacts (“Leakage”) ............................................................. 97 CL3. Climate Impact Monitoring ............................................................................. 98 V COMMUNITY SECTION ...................................................................................... 104 CM1. Net Positive Community Impacts ............................................................... 104 CM2. Offsite Stakeholder Impacts ......................................................................... 109 CM3. Community Impact Monitoring .................................................................. 109 VI BIODIVERSITY SECTION ................................................................................... 111 B1. Net Positive Biodiversity Impacts ................................................................... 111 B2. Offsite Biodiversity Impacts ............................................................................. 116 B3. Biodiversity Impact Monitoring ...................................................................... 116 VII GOLD LEVEL SECTION ....................................................................................... 119 GL1. Climate Change Adaptation Benefits .......................................................... 119 GL2. Exceptional Community Benefits ................................................................. 124 GL3. Exceptional Biodiversity Benefits ................................................................. 130 VIII REFERENCES......................................................................................................... 132 Sofala Community Carbon Project – PDD according to CCB and Plan Vivo Standards page 1 I EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Sofala Community Carbon Project (the Project) is developing sustainable land use and rural development activities in communities around and within the buffer zones of Gorongosa and Marromeu National Parks both in central Mozambique, to improve rural livelihoods, habitat restoration, forest management and conservation of biodiversity. The project is also generating verified emission reductions (VERs)1. A pilot to the project was initiated in 2002 with a group of 53 farmers in the wards of Nhambita and Munhanganha. This was followed by a research and development phase which was funded partly by the EU (contract B7/6200/2002/063-241/MZ) between August 2003 to August 2008. Since September 2008, the project has been financed primarily by carbon sales and investment from Envirotrade Carbon Limited (ECL). The project is managed by the local subsidiary Envirotrade Mozambique Limitada (EML). The project is a flag-ship Plan Vivo project and has been operating under the Plan Vivo Standard since its inception. The project is working in two sites, Gorongosa and Zambezi Delta. Both sites include a large number of rural smallholders, and promotes the adoption of sustainable land use management. Individual smallholders can choose to adopt mitigation activities from a menu of 9 different land use systems (seven agro-forestry, one agricultural and one forestry). Each of these systems is defined by a Technical Specifications that provides all relevant information for implementation (i.e. establishment, management, site requirements and carbon sequestration potential). For each system that a producer decides to adopt, a contract is established between him or her and the project developer which includes a carbon calculator derived from the technical specification. The project developer provides guidance on how to adopt the system and monitors implementation thereby providing a basis for carbon payments. Annually the monitoring results must be submitted in a report to the Plan Vivo which is displayed on their website. After the report is approved, credits are issued to the buyers and retired on the public Markit Registry. The agro-forestry and agricultural systems have been widely adopted. There are 3,968 contracts signed by 1,422 farmers in the Gorongosa site. In the Zambezi Delta there are 413 famers who have signed 605 contracts. In total, 1,835 farmers have signed 4573 contracts. In addition, the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) system has been adopted on 9,599 ha in the Gorongosa site . The project now intends to validate its voluntary emission reductions (VERs) according to the CCB Standard and validate and verify against the Plan Vivo standards. Both standards include criteria for additional community and biodiversity benefits. From 2002-2009 the project has already produced a total of 1,111,576 tCO2e VERs which may be sold ex ante. Of these, a total of 201,719 tCO2e have already been sold. The balance of 909,857 tCO2e, which are held in stock by the project developer, and all new VERs generated after the project was registered as a Plan Vivo in February 2007, are subject to the CCBA validation, all credits are subject to Plan Vivo validation and verification. This Project Design Document (PDD) provides all information required for the Sofala Community Carbon Project to be validated against the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Project Design Standards (CCB Standards) of The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) and the Plan Vivo Standards. The PDD complies with the criteria and indicators of the 2nd Edition of the CCB Standards (version December 2008) and Plan Vivo Standards version 2 (in force from 6th October 2008). 1 Based on its successful experiences, one further project has been prepared in 2007 in the buffer zone of the Quirimbas National Park (the Quirimba Project) by project developer Envirotrade Carbon Limited. The project described in the present document however only refers to the projects developed at the Gorongosa National Park and Marromeu Reserve. Sofala Community Carbon Project – PDD according to CCB and Plan Vivo Standards page 2 The PDD was prepared by the project developer, Envirotrade, with support from UNIQUE forestry consultants. appropriate Sofala Community Carbon Project – PDD according to CCB and Plan Vivo Standards page 3 II BASIC INFORMATION Title of the Project: Sofala Community Carbon Project Project webpage: www.miombo.org.uk Location of the Project: Country: Mozambique Province: Sofala Physical Address of the Project: Nhambita community, Chicale Régulado Gorongosa, Mozambique Tel.: +258 82 5099030 Delivery Address of the Project: Envirotrade Post Office Box 64 Chimoio Mozambique Project Developer (proponent): Envirotrade Carbon Limited (ECL). Webpage: http://www.envirotrade.net/ Project Operator (subsidiary of ECL): Envirotrade Mozambique Limitada (EML) Operational Start of the Project: Pilot to the EU phase signing of contracts with farmers and sale to Future Forests: 2002 (funded by Envirotrade) EU research and development phase: 08/2003 (EU/Envirotrade jointly funded project). During this phase the project was referenced by the EU as Miombo Community Land Use & Carbon Management: Nhambita Pilot Project. Contract B7-6200/2002/063-241/MZ. This was commonly shortened to the Nhambita Community carbon project. Operational phase: 09/2008 (Envirotrade and carbon sales funded project) Sofala Community Carbon Project – PDD according to CCB and Plan Vivo Standards page 4 III GENERAL SECTION G1. Original Conditions in the Project Regions General Information G1.1. The location of the project & basic physical parameters (e.g., soil, geology, climate). Location The Sofala community carbon project (hereafter “the Project”) is located in the central region of Mozambique in Sofala province. Figure 1. Location of project sites within Sofala province. The Project is split into two sites, the Gorongosa and Zambezi Delta project sites . Sofala Community Carbon Project – PDD according to CCB and Plan Vivo Standards page 5 Figure 2. Map of districts and Régulados The project sites straddle four different government districts, Nhamatanda, Gorongosa, Cheringoma and Marromeu and ten Régulados traditional land divisions similar to chiefdoms, Chicale, Mucombezi (often referred to locally as Matenga), Guma, Tsotse, Matondo, Chirimadzi, Mponda, Gora, Cine and Mociambuze. Further details on project boundaries are in section G1.3. The project also overlaps with two buffer zones around national parks the Gorongosa