XIV WORLD FORESTRY CONGRESS, Durban, South Africa, 7-11 September 2015
Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project Errol Douwes1, 2*, Mathieu Rouget2, Nicci Diederichs3, Sean O’Donoghue1, 4, Kathryn Roy1 ,2, Debra Roberts1, 2
1 Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department, eThekwini Municipality, Durban, South Africa.
2 School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
3 Futureworks, Durban, South Africa.
4 School of Life Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Durban, South Africa.
Abstract
The Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project, in eThekwini Municipality (Durban) was initiated in November 2008, to offset a portion of CO2 emissions (declared as 307,208 tons CO2 equivalent) associated with Durban’s hosting of several 2010 FIFA World CupTM soccer matches. Whilst climate mitigation was the primary objective, the project has demonstrated substantive climate- change adaptation co-benefits. This is evident in: a.) direct socioeconomic benefits to local communities including improved food security, education and community livelihoods, and b.) enhanced biodiversity and ecosystem services from the restored landscape. Given its success, the project is now integral to the Municipality’s community- and ecosystem-based adaptation work-stream. The project is one of the United Nations “Momentum for Change” initiatives: projects that address climate change through climate-resilient and low-carbon mechanisms, while ensuring optimal benefits for local communities. The project is implemented as a collaborative effort across municipal departments, as well as external service providers. Local people collect and germinate indigenous seeds, and tree seedlings are then traded for credit notes, which can be exchanged for food, basic goods, or used to pay for school fees. Trees are planted into a 580 hectare area, previously under sugarcane production for c. 100 years, in the 757 hectare buffer zone of the Buffelsdraai Regional Landfill Site. The balance of the buffer zone is comprised of existing grasslands, woodlands, wetlands and riparian areas, which are to be restored and managed. Likely ecological benefits include improved biodiversity refuges, water quality, river-flow regulation, flood mitigation, sediment control, visual amenity, and fire-risk reduction. The project has been validated, by the Climate Community Biodiversity Alliance, as delivering social, biodiversity and carbon sequestration benefits, at an international standard.
Keywords: Reforestation, Climate Change Adaptation, Resilience, Indigenous Forest, Buffelsdraai
Introduction, scope and main objectives Cities have a critical role to play in climate change adaptation and mitigation. The majority of the world’s populations now live in urban areas (UNFPA, 2007), with the result that cities form centres of intense transport-, energy- and industry-related greenhouse gas emissions. While addressing climate mitigation at the city-scale is evidently important the vulnerabilities that cities face, because of climate change, are arguably even more important. Where the impacts of climate change related disasters are not appropriately planned for, the high settlement densities, infrastructure in vulnerable locations and issues of urban poverty, can together have very negative consequences for people. This is particularly true of cities in many African countries, where informal settlements form a large proportion of residential areas. It is imperative that development in these cities be appropriately aligned with projected climate changes.
To this end, various mechanisms are being pursued globally to address climate change mitigation and adaptation in urban areas. These include nationally coordinated mitigation policies, that include renewable energy and energy efficiency retrofits of buildings, and local scale adaptation planning initiatives. Two local scale initiatives considered to be of high importance for African cities include community-based adaptation (CBA) and ecosystem-based adaptations (EBA). CBA refers to the participatory identification and implementation of community-based development activities that strengthen local people’s capacity to adapt to climate change. CBA also builds on communities’ expressed needs and perceptions to address local development concerns which underlie vulnerability (Ayers and Forsyth 2009; Reid et al. 2009, Archer et al. 2014). EBA refers to “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services as part of an overall adaptation strategy to help people to adapt to the adverse effects of climate change” (AHTEG 2009). EBA uses a range of opportunities for the sustainable environmental management to increase ecosystem service outputs, which helps people to adapt to climate change. Both CBA and/or EBA allow for delivery of climate change adaptation interventions that support economic development, promote poverty-alleviation and boost biodiversity conservation (Cartwright et al. 2013, Lykke et al. 2009). Such benefits can foster much-needed political buy-in. Furthermore, where CBA and EBA are integrated into local decision-making processes (e.g. municipal land-use planning), opportunities for risk reduction are enhanced (Archer et al. 2014).
This paper discusses the key benefits derived, and lessons learned, from a local reforestation project implemented by eThekwini Municipality (the local government in charge of the city of Durban) in partnership with local communities and other local organisations. While established as a mitigation initiative to help offset greenhouse gas emissions in Durban, from local 2010 FIFA World Cup™ matches, the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project (‘the project’) has provided critical co-benefits including climate change adaptation, poverty alleviation and ecosystem restoration. The programme attained Gold Standard validation from the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA).
Methodology and approach
Climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies in Durban Durban has a portfolio of synergistic adaptation and mitigation responses that form part of its Municipal Climate Protection Programme. Reviews of this programme (Roberts et al. 2012; Roberts and O’ Donoghue, 2013) allude to the fact that while adaptation remains the immediate priority, mitigation interventions are critical for enhancing the city’s adaptive capacity, i.e. through avoidance of climate change whilst reducing existing high per capita emissions levels. In this sense, mitigation may even be considered the ‘surest form’ of adaptation. However, EBA is seen as both the most strategic and cost effective adaptation mechanism in Durban, where impoverished urban communities are highly vulnerable, and remain dependent on natural capital for survival (Roberts et al. 2012). In Durban, a practicable Community Ecosystem-based Adaptation (CEBA) initiative, has recently emerged. This was in response to the recognition that climate adaptation, including EBA, needs to involve and benefit local communities to be sustainable and meaningful. Natural habitat restoration projects have the advantage not only of achieving climate mitigation aims, but of increasing climate adaptation capacity and reducing vulnerability within ecosystems and communities. Importantly, it is acknowledged that, in Durban’s urban-based projects, mitigation gains are often meagre in comparison to gains delivered by adaptation. The investment in ecosystem restoration enhances not only carbon sequestration as a single ecosystem service, but increases the supply of a large number of other ecosystem services (e.g. flood attenuation, sediment regulation, biodiversity refuge conservation, river flow regulation). This enhances the resilience and adaptation capacity of regional ecosystems, including river catchment systems, with clear benefits to local communities that depend on natural resources.
Establishment of the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project Following Durban’s selection as one of nine South African host cities for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, eThekwini Municipality established a target to host a climate neutral event. The total unavoidable carbon footprint for the Durban component of this event was declared as 307,208 tons of CO2 equivalent. A portion of this footprint was required to be mitigated through local natural forest restoration, whilst enhancing adaptation within ecosystems and communities. The project was initiated within the 757 hectare buffer zone of the municipality’s Buffelsdraai Regional Landfill Site, north of Durban, in November 2008. Some initial small-scale tree planting was undertaken in 2009, followed by more intensive planting from 2010 onwards. All land earmarked for reforestation was previously either under sugarcane production, with limited productive capacity, or infested by invasive alien plants. The carbon to be captured by the project was initially estimated at some 45,000 tons CO2, following forest regeneration over 20 years (EThekwini Municipality, 2011). A local non-profit organisation, namely the Wildlands Conservation Trust (WCT), was appointed to implement the project through its Indigenous Trees for Life (ITFL) programme. This programme assists unemployed people, subsequently known as Tree-preneurs, to set up small-scale indigenous tree nurseries at their homes. Facilitators from relevant communities are appointed to recruit, train and support the Tree-preneurs who trade their trees (minimum 30cm height) for credit notes. The credit notes can be exchanged for food, basic goods or as payment of school fees. A holding nursery on the reforestation site allows for storage and sorting of trees received from Tree- preneurs, Hardening-off involves the use of local soils, without fertilizer or mulch, and watering is minimised. Teams of local people are employed to plant and then maintain the forest (including control of invasive alien plants). Planting takes place predominantly in the wet season, to help increase tree survival. Planted areas are inspected regularly and any dead trees are replaced with new tree saplings. A stock of ‘insurance’ trees is stored in the on-site nursery for instances when trees may have succumbed to wild fires or extreme drought. The Environmental Planning and Climate Protection Department (EPCPD) oversees the project but partnerships with other municipal departments are key. These include the Durban Solid Waste Department (DSW), which owns the land, the Coastal, Stormwater and Catchment Management Department, involved in water monitoring; and the Municipality’s Energy Office, which provided photo-voltaics and solar geysers for offices and ablutions. Other partners include the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) as part of a research partnership, and the Wildlife and Environmental Society of South Africa (WESSA) as part of an Environmental Education partnership. The local community members are considered key partners.
Assessment of benefits The multiple benefits achieved by the project have resulted in a Gold Standard validation, awarded by the CCBA, following regular monitoring (see below for further details) of carbon stock, biodiversity improvements and socio-economic surveys of the neighbouring communities. Determining conformance with the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCB Standards), is via a two stage, validation and verification process (CCBA, 2015), undertaken by independent accredited auditors. The validation phase, already completed for the project at Buffelsdraai, entailed an assessment of the design of the land-based carbon project against each of the CCB Standards Criteria. Verification will be performed after initial project implementation (and then at approximately 5 year intervals) to confirm if the project has delivered benefits in line with the project’s validated design and monitoring plan. Table 1 lists the various indicators used to monitor the implementation and effectiveness of the programme.
The estimated carbon to be sequestered each year, was calculated prior to planting, and was based on anticipated woody biomass accumulation from the phased plantings in initial years, as well as growth of trees over a period of 20 years. Knowles (unpublished data) modelled carbon accumulation rates using the Century Ecosystem Program for the various vegetation types sampled by Glenday (2007). Early in the project, field surveys of extant forest and woodland patches (Macfarlane et al. 2011) were undertaken. The resulting inventories and associated data allowed for calculation of importance values (IV) for each tree species, as a means to guide future species selection for planting (Macfarlane et al. 2011). The IV methodology (see DWAF, 2005) uses relative abundance, relative frequency and relative basal area (biomass) of each species in each habitat type. The exercise was repeated four years later (Bertolli et al. 2013) in order to confirm targets set for species richness. Macfarlane et al. (2011) also collected baseline data for vertebrate and invertebrate species richness. A socio-economic baseline study (Greater Capital, 2011) of project beneficiaries was undertaken to help the Municipality understand the long-term benefits to the 6309 households in the Buffelsdraai, Osindisweni and KwaMashu settlements. These areas were acknowledged to suffer from poverty and unemployment.
Table 1: Indicators used to monitor carbon stocks, biodiversity and socio-economic benefits of the Buffelsdraai Landfill Site Community Reforestation Project
Indicator Type Measurement Frequency Notes
Carbon stock Extent planted (ha) Annually Calculated for areas previously under sugarcane
Number of trees Annually Trees planted in the living fence were not included in initial carbon calculations
Accumulated carbon Annually These values were sequestered to date calculated prior to project
(tons CO2 equivalent) inception
Biodiversity Indigenous trees Annually Only woody tree species (species richness) sampled
Invertebrates (species Every five Limited to snails and richness) years millipedes
Vertebrates (species Every five Small mammals, birds richness) years and reptiles were sampled
Socio-economics Number of temporary Annually Measured for people jobs directly employed
Number of permanent Annually Measured for people jobs directly employed
Disposable income Every five Within families of Tree- years preneurs or employees
Food availability Every five Within families of Tree- years preneurs or employees
Results
The results presented are from the first five years of tree planting from 2010 to 2014, and relate broadly to the indicators listed in Table 1.
Carbon stock: Anticipated carbon sequestered for each year since inception are shown in Table 2, but as of 1st January
2015 the total is 7472.6 tCO2e (EThekwini Municipality, 2011).
Table 2. Potential greenhouse gas removal to date, through woody biomass accumulation, during phased planting at Buffelsdraai. Excerpt from Project Design Document (EThekwini Municipality, 2011).
Year Cumulative Carbon Carbon sequestration Accumulated area planted sequestration rate per year carbon sequestered
(ha) rate tC/ha) (tCO2e/year) to date (tCO2e)
2008 1.1 1.4 5.6 5.6
2009 44.1 1.4 226.4 232.0
2010 82.1 1.4 421.4 653.5
2011 182.1 1.4 934.8 1588.3
2012 282.1 1.4 1448.1 3036.4
2013 382.1 1.4 1961.4 4997.8
2014 482.1 1.4 2474.8 7472.6
Biodiversity: As of January 2015, a total of 442 ha have been planted out (approximately 100 ha per year) at an average density of 1000 trees/ha, with the exception of riparian areas which received an average of 2000 trees/ha. This represents over 595,476 trees acquired through the Tree-preneurs programme (Douwes et al. 2015). These trees include a total of 51 locally indigenous species (Bertolli et al. 2013), of which the most common are Acacia natalitia, Erythrina lysistemon and Bridelia micrantha. Bird species recorded at project inception totalled 80 species (Macfarlane et al. 2011) and, through on- going quarterly record-keeping, the number has increased to 145 species (Spence and Wood, 2014). A total of 9 millipede and 22 mollusc species were recorded on the site (Macfarlane et al. 2011).
Socio-economics The survey revealed that 10% of households did not have access to refuse disposal, and almost 20% had no access to running water within their dwellings. Lack of public service delivery was particularly prevalent in Buffelsdraai, where 36% of households had no refuse disposal and 83% of households had no running water within their dwellings. All communities demonstrated a high reliance on the collection of natural resources for food, fire, water and medicine.
The project has subsequently generated over 50 full-time, 16 part-time and 389 temporary jobs for local community members. Over 600 active tree-preneurs have also been engaged (Fig. 1). An initial assessment of the benefits derived from tree trading and employment in the project confirmed that local people had more disposable incomes, increased availability of food, and many families reported improved education opportunities for schoolchildren.
Figure 1: Socio-economic upliftment of neighbouring communities through job creation (2009-2013)
Discussion This case study provides a number of lessons that could inform the development of community-based reforestation elsewhere. The project leans heavily towards local job creation and active up-skilling of community members, achieved primarily through on-going interactions between facilitators and Tree- preneurs. The development of entrepreneurial skills is also a focus, and Tree-preneurs producing large quantities of trees are rewarded with additional training courses or experiential learning opportunities. An education and outreach initiative has been established to help local communities develop an understanding of climate change, as well as how forests and ecosystems deliver beneficial ecosystem services. The project has demonstrated some measure of both climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, it is acknowledged that the mitigation benefits are relatively meagre, when compared with total carbon emissions calculated for Durban’s component of the 2010 FIFA World CupTM. In contrast, the biodiversity and socio-economic benefits offer far more tangible benefits at the local scale. In this regard, the project was selected as one of the United Nations “Momentum for Change” initiatives. Such projects are recognized for addressing climate change through climate-resilient and low-carbon mechanisms, while ensuring optimal benefits for local communities (UNFCCC, 2014). However, it is acknowledged that further interrogation of the project benefits is still required. For example, the full extent and impact of ecological and ecosystem service benefits, e.g. increased biodiversity refuges, water quality, river-flow regulation, flood mitigation, sediment control, visual amenity, and fire-risk reduction, are as yet untested and unknown. Another aspect in which the project has showed promise, is in the engagement of a broad spectrum of stakeholders. This has ensured widespread buy-in and transparency, and, in the instance of a research partnership with UKZN, has helped ensure that at least some of unknowns listed above will be interrogated. The positive socio-economic benefits have also brought much-needed political buy-in and,
subsequently, two additional projects in Durban (iNanda Mountain and Paradise Valley) have been initiated using the same model. The above mentioned partnerships and project components all aim to yield a range of positive co- benefits or outcomes. However, they are also highlight the vulnerability of the project, which could fail if long-term management commitments from local government are not forthcoming. This links to the clear need for a systematic risk management approach that highlights positive interdependencies, exposes and interrogates hazard trends.
Conclusions Although originally initiated to offset the local carbon footprint of the Durban 2010 FIFA World Cup™, the benefits achieved have already far exceeded the single objective of creating a tree-based carbon sink, and include not only enhanced restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem service delivery, but a range of social upliftment and economic benefits, as well as important research opportunities. The project is indicative of a new form of urban biodiversity conservation where more structured and deliberative interventions in biodiversity management can create new socio-ecological systems. Going forward, it is recommended that the project builds on the partnership and research platform approach. This will help to optimise co-benefits, and grow the portfolio of co-ordinated, synergised and constantly re-evaluated responses, for both adaptation and mitigation.
Acknowledgements This research was supported by eThekwini Municipality through the Durban Research Action Partnership: Community Reforestation Research Programme. ED acknowledges funding from DANIDA, eThekwini Municipality and the South African National Green Fund. MR acknowledges funding from the South African Research Chairs Initiative of the Department of Science and Technology and National Research Foundation of South Africa. We thank Fatima Moolla and Richard Winn from the Wildlands Conservation Trust for providing data on number and area of trees planted.
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