Planning phase | PANORAMA

Long-term sequestration

Long-term sequestration refers to the practice of capturing, securing, and storing greenhouse gas (GHG) or other forms of carbon from the atmosphere for an extended period of time, ideally indefinitely.

The goal of long-term sequestration is to mitigate the effects of climate change by reducing the levels of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

It is important that the used methods are sustainable and secure to ensure that the carbon does not re-enter the atmosphere. In this pilot, we reached that goal through using the wood for construction purposes in the area near the forest reserve.

Long-term sequestration is essential for stabilizing global carbon levels and is considered a crucial component in efforts to combat climate change, but to identify and secure the long term storage of CO2 in construction sites is a large task and costly exercise.

Planning phase

Global

Avoid double counting

Double counting in carbon projects refers to a situation where a carbon credit is claimed by more than one entity, without producing any additional carbon benefit. In simple terms, it occurs when two parties claim the same carbon removal or emission reduction benefits. Double counting undermines the integrity of carbon offset programs and the fight against climate change as it distorts the actual emissions reductions or removals achieved. It essentially dilutes the value and effectiveness of carbon credits.

Double counting can be avoided if all work is done through one entity and announced to one standard method like the GLS+ methodology tested in this pilot project.

In the actual setting with one entity and a specific forest, where no measures other then biodiversity measures can be legally undertaken, double counting was not a major concern.

Planning phase

National

Additionality

In carbon offset projects, additionality is crucial for determining the quality of carbon offset credits. A project is said to be "additional" if its associated greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions would not have occurred without the specific intervention, thereby ensuring the credibility and effectiveness of the carbon credits issued.

Additionality is respected if the cut would not have been done without the financial contribution of the issued CO2 certificates.

As the cut was already executed and the calculation was done retrospective, this condition was not respected in the examined Pilot project. But if the cut is done for biodiversity reasons and the resulting CO2 certificates are used to finance the cut or increase the managed surface, then this condition would be respected.

Planning phase

Global

Ecosystem Services Baseline Construction

Elaboration of maps of potential by ecosystem service

GIZ

Geospatial Data Integration and Index of Ecosystem Services

GIZ

Elaboration of suitability maps for landscape restoration practices.

GIZ

Examples of suitability maps for landscape restoration practices

GIZ

The objective of this building block is to provide developers and implementers of ecosystem and landscape restoration projects with a tool that uses remote sensing and geospatial data to determine the current state of ecosystem services and the sites where specific restoration measures can be implemented.

The steps to execute it are as follows:

Preparation of baseline data: it forms a cartographic series that includes information on the project area, topography, climate, soil and forest cover.
Hydrological and soil analysis: results in the water erosion map and the water infiltration map of the project area.
Structural landscape analysis: results in the biological connectivity map of the project area.
Integrated landscape analysis: results in the ecosystem services index and its map in different territorial management units.
Generation of suitability indexes: results in 7 soil suitability maps to apply specific ecosystem and landscape restoration measures.

Have access to official geospatial information sources.
Implement a training and capacity building process, where doubts and uncertainties about methodological aspects and technologies to be used are resolved, which facilitates their adoption.
Have an advisor or mentor during the process; this facilitates the resolution of doubts or queries arising from the execution of the instruments; a single process of accompaniment is sufficient, as it develops a strong foundation for future replications.

It requires a technician with basic knowledge of GIS, since it requires access and manipulation of tools, data and platforms very specific to this sector.
The execution of the process is not time consuming, however, it requires time and exclusivity to perform it (more, if it is the first time it is executed); which are reduced with each new replication process.

Guía Metodológica para la Creación de Líneas Base de Servicios Ecosistémicos

Curso Virtual: Guía Metodológica para la Creación de Líneas Base de Servicios E…

Governmental Consultation Facility

Process of the Consultation Facility

Alliance

The goal of the Consultation Facility is to provide context-specific multidisciplinary consultancy services from Alliance experts to governments/governmental institutions in countries with a high risk of novel diseases of zoonotic origin to prevent spill-over infections.

The expertise of more than 180+ member organisations and individual experts in the Alliance will be used to put together those interdiscplinary teams.

The Consultation Facility specializes on medium-term, primary preventive and context-specific government advisory services with concrete results in the context of health risks in wildlife trade and consumption along the entire contact and trade chain.

Effective and sustainable counseling requires thorough policy analysis/screening to identify suitable governments.

Existing political action or other political regulations regarding the intersection of wildlife and human health for example, are particulary helpful at the beginning of the consultation.

The facility was launched in December 2023. For this reason, the lessons learned will only be communicated in the course of 2024.

Planning phase

Inception phase

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Feasibility Study

A study on how the carbon market could potentially finance climate adaptation/mitigation projects.

Collaboration with researchers in the climate financing field and relevant governmental stakeholders.

The Indonesian carbon market is yet to be fully developed, with many uncertainties in the policy side. Nonetheless, feasibility study became a guideline for other initiatives who are searching for sustainable financing for their mitigation projects.

Although the findings were not fully conclusive, connections with the Government were established along the way to receive the necessary information for future implementation.

Policy Dialogues or Workshops

A dialogue or workshop with governmental stakeholders to present case studies or solutions that could be incorporated into national policies.

An ongoing collaboration with the national government and close communication about various project updates that are beneficial for policy.

Conducting panel discussions or FGD has been shown to facilitate dialogues between the public and private sectors. Such discussions are important for information accessibility to the private sector, while also influencing policies that are not resistant to project goals.

For instance, the carbon market workshop was significant in elaborating the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MoEF) plan on the Indonesian Carbon Market. Elaborating projects such as the biogas initiative early on is necessary to ensure smooth implementation once the policies are ready.

Development of customized enrichment plans

Soil nutrition workshop.

Humica, A.C.

The actions implemented were carried out to successfully protect and enrich the soils, for which it was necessary to identify updated soil and crop needs, and lay the groundwork for a study of critical curves in coffee nutrition. These consist of knowing the approximate proportion of nutrients that coffee plants can assimilate in each of the dominant soil units in the region, information with which updated and personalized enrichment plans can be made, according to the specific needs of each plot and each producer, including in the future, the nutritional requirements of each of the varieties established in the zone. In addition to the above, it is possible to identify in detail the role that each of the macro and microelements has in the development of coffee varieties, and the impact that nutrients have on the aroma and flavor properties of the final product can be determined.

Necessary knowledge for producers to be able to continue carrying out individual activities on their plots of land;
Support and guidance to producers who need it;
Identification of actions to protect and enrich soils, and follow up on their implementation;
Accompaniment by a local technician for the interpretation of soil analyses;
Carrying out updated and personalized enrichment plans, according to the results of the soil studies.

The soil studies with which the project began were more than three years old and did not reflect the current reality, which made it difficult to design enrichment plans that would meet nutritional needs;
The soils in the area are impoverished, so it was important to identify their degree of suitability for shade-grown coffee and make appropriate recommendations to meet the particular needs of each site;
Before carrying out interventions, it is necessary to identify the possibility of implementing nutrition strategies, respecting as much as possible the customs rooted in the area to avoid rejection by the producers, since in the area of action of the program they have the vision of "respecting the production customs of the grandparents";
It is important to identify the nutrition activities currently carried out by the producers in order to rescue good practices;
Due to the unique characteristics of the regions of Oaxaca, as well as the producers' plots, it is necessary that the actions taken are personalized.

Planning phase

Local

Informed decision making

Producers identifying horizons in the soil profile.

Humica, A.C.

A success factor for the solution was the use of historical information, such as published documents and the institutional knowledge of the Community Helper, to identify the needs of each agroforestry plot. With this information, the people who produce and have plots with similar nutritional needs were efficiently grouped together. In addition, it was important to evaluate and record the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil, as well as to record the plant species established in the coffee plots in the zone. These evaluations were necessary to identify the available inputs for the production of biochar. Subsequently, and evaluating the information obtained, personalized enrichment plans were designed, with the purpose of increasing the productivity and quality of the coffee, seeking to respect, as far as possible, the deep-rooted uses and customs of production.

Availability of historical information to identify areas of opportunity related to coffee soil;
Creation of enrichment plans, according to the needs of the different zones in the impact area;
Opening up to environmentally conscious markets, related to the consumption of products that do not contribute to climate change;
Consideration of potential conflicts in the use of biomass for food and fuel, which could have a negative carbon footprint.

Lack of knowledge limits the appropriation of new technologies to enrich soils and have less impact on ecosystems, so it is necessary to show the consequences of intensive agriculture and the benefits of conserving nature;
For the success of the soil improvement program, it is important to know the depth, color, texture and structure of the plot, and its capacity to retain/filter rainwater, as well as the shade plants established;
Before making an intervention in the plots, it is necessary to identify local sources of raw material to produce biochar, so that the producers' doubts can be answered in the field;
The producers in the field ask questions that are related to specific soil characteristics of their plot, so it is necessary to consider the soil differences between the coffee growing regions of the intervention zone;
Coffee farming produces a large amount of waste each year, which is generally not adequately managed and becomes an environmental and sanitary risk.

Planning phase

Local

Pre-Training Survey boosting training effectiveness

The Blue Economy (BE) concept has become a central aspect of global and regional environmental policies. This is mainly reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through Goal 14, which is to “conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development” (UN, 2017). Nonetheless, such concept is still new to Mozambique, and it became relevant to explore the different participants background on this topic.

Pre-training surveys helps to gather data that can inform how to run the training, how it’s delivered and what content it covers. To ensure training participants’ ownership of the program, a preparatory working group meeting was also convened, enabling potential participants to share their expectations and learning objectives with each other and to discuss key adaptations to be done. The results from the survey helped to make changes or improvements that maximized the results for the participants.

Objectives should be shared clearly from the very beginning of the process;
It is necessary to use the information from the participants to prepare a tailored training;
Facilitators should be flexible to attribute specific time to certain topics;
Exercises should be tailored to audience level and make them more culturally appropriate.