Tuesday, October 6, 2009
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NRES 285/ 499, Fall 2010, UIUC |
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Coffan Project
REDD Lecture 1
REDD Lecture 2
Remember when I said last week was insane? Well this was just as crazy. “Carbon Credit Crazy Town.” NCI employee Emily Welbourn spoke to us about REDD projects, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. REDD projects preserve forests to conserve biodiversity, promote ecosystem services, and prevent greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere. Selling carbon credits funds the projects.
The study Emily worked on was for an Ecuadorian indigenous group called the Cofán. Significant deforestation and road construction for oil exploitation have encroached on the Cofán reserve. The Cofán are seeking means to prevent this deforestation as well as adapt a sustainable livelihood. They are under a great deal of pressure from drillers, as oil makes up 40% of Ecuador’s economy.
The study aimed to measure the feasibility of REDD carbon offsets for the Cofán reserve by analyzing five variables. The variables were measured on a scale of red, yellow, and green, where green means GO:
1. Political climate (yellow) – The current leaders want to curb deforestation and for the Cofán to receive the benefits of sold credits. On the other hand, there is uncertainty whether the carbon credit system will be nationalized. Then, benefits might not go directly to the Cofán.
2. Additionality (yellow) – If it were green, this means things would not have occurred if the program hadn’t been implemented. Since several factors could change the outcome and it’s uncertain, additionality is graded yellow.
3. Leakage (green) – This is the idea that deforestation would be displaced outside the reserve. They believed it wouldn’t be displaced.
4. Permanence (green) – There are some long-term risks to maintaining the program (political, economic, natural), but overall these risks should not prevent REDD from being implemented in the first place.
5. Indigenous and Cultural Considerations (green) – The Cofán could still live sustainably off the land with REDD in place.
Even though there are some yellow areas, Emily and her colleagues believe that REDD is a viable solution for the Cofán people in Ecuador. The punch line is the program would cost about $7 million over a 20-year period to break even. These costs cover monitoring over the reserve and expanding the park guard program. It’s still uncertain how the credits would be priced (from $6.73 to $18) and whether they would wait for a regulated credit market (as opposed to entering voluntarily now).
The take-home message is that REDD is a plausible program and definitely a new way of thinking about conservation. It’s comforting to know there are many alternatives, such as ecotourism, non-timber forest products, and now carbon credits, for people in biologically significant areas to embrace. I also just think it’s amazing Emily worked on this as part of her graduate degree. I hope we can all do something as cool. --Lenna O.
P.S. Easily the best quotes of the night:
(after a 5 minute break) “Well, you caught me chewing I’m afraid. I was able to go out during the break and grab a sweet treat from the vending machine.”
“I’m beginning to get pretty psyched, so I don’t know about you.” –both Tony E.
photo from Emily Welbourn
REDD Lecture 1
REDD Lecture 2
Remember when I said last week was insane? Well this was just as crazy. “Carbon Credit Crazy Town.” NCI employee Emily Welbourn spoke to us about REDD projects, or Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation. REDD projects preserve forests to conserve biodiversity, promote ecosystem services, and prevent greenhouse gases from being emitted into the atmosphere. Selling carbon credits funds the projects.
The study Emily worked on was for an Ecuadorian indigenous group called the Cofán. Significant deforestation and road construction for oil exploitation have encroached on the Cofán reserve. The Cofán are seeking means to prevent this deforestation as well as adapt a sustainable livelihood. They are under a great deal of pressure from drillers, as oil makes up 40% of Ecuador’s economy.
The study aimed to measure the feasibility of REDD carbon offsets for the Cofán reserve by analyzing five variables. The variables were measured on a scale of red, yellow, and green, where green means GO:
1. Political climate (yellow) – The current leaders want to curb deforestation and for the Cofán to receive the benefits of sold credits. On the other hand, there is uncertainty whether the carbon credit system will be nationalized. Then, benefits might not go directly to the Cofán.
2. Additionality (yellow) – If it were green, this means things would not have occurred if the program hadn’t been implemented. Since several factors could change the outcome and it’s uncertain, additionality is graded yellow.
3. Leakage (green) – This is the idea that deforestation would be displaced outside the reserve. They believed it wouldn’t be displaced.
4. Permanence (green) – There are some long-term risks to maintaining the program (political, economic, natural), but overall these risks should not prevent REDD from being implemented in the first place.
5. Indigenous and Cultural Considerations (green) – The Cofán could still live sustainably off the land with REDD in place.
Even though there are some yellow areas, Emily and her colleagues believe that REDD is a viable solution for the Cofán people in Ecuador. The punch line is the program would cost about $7 million over a 20-year period to break even. These costs cover monitoring over the reserve and expanding the park guard program. It’s still uncertain how the credits would be priced (from $6.73 to $18) and whether they would wait for a regulated credit market (as opposed to entering voluntarily now).
The take-home message is that REDD is a plausible program and definitely a new way of thinking about conservation. It’s comforting to know there are many alternatives, such as ecotourism, non-timber forest products, and now carbon credits, for people in biologically significant areas to embrace. I also just think it’s amazing Emily worked on this as part of her graduate degree. I hope we can all do something as cool. --Lenna O.
P.S. Easily the best quotes of the night:
(after a 5 minute break) “Well, you caught me chewing I’m afraid. I was able to go out during the break and grab a sweet treat from the vending machine.”
“I’m beginning to get pretty psyched, so I don’t know about you.” –both Tony E.
photo from Emily Welbourn
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About the Class
- NRES 285/ 499, Fall 2010, UIUC
- Alamos, Sonora, Mexico
- This course combines pre-trip classroom instruction with field study in the Sierra de Alamos in Southeastern Sonora, Mexico. Its purpose is to introduce both undergraduate and graduate students to biodiversity and conservation of a diverse and significantly threatened ecosystem.
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