Green project cleared for carbon trade

A forest project in Tsavo East National Park that has helped reduce human-wildlife conflict has been cleared to start earning money from its ability to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the atmosphere.

Wildlife Works Carbon, the US-based company that manages the project announced in Denmark that their Kasigau Corridor REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) Project in Kenya has been awarded the first gold level validation in Africa, under the Climate Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Alliance’s REDD Standard.

Wildlife corridor

The company subsequently announced that as a result, it has entered into a contract with South Africa’s Nedbank to sell the Voluntary Emission Reductions (VERs) generated by the project.

The project was started in 1998 and has helped reduce human-wildlife conflict by removing snares set for wildlife, removal of cattle from the wildlife land and worked with the community to move the sanctuary’s illegal squatters on to farm land located outside of the wildlife corridor.

“The elephants returned first, followed by the ungulates and then the predators. After just a few seasons we now have a very balanced eco-system, with 47 large mammal species, including four endangered species, African elephants, Grevy’s zebras, cheetah and African hunting dogs. There are hundreds of bird species on Rukinga, dozens of reptiles and amphibians and thousands of insect species,” the company said in a statement.

The projects also include an EcoFactory where women from the community make gift articles that are sold to the US. 

Wildlife Works said the validations is “a milestone in the progress of REDD towards achieving legitimacy in the global carbon marketplace, and sets a positive example for those millions of Africans who have the potential to gain financial reward from REDD to help them move forward with development.”

“We believe this demonstrates clearly that REDD is ready for prime time in Africa to help communities that have been affected by climate chang,” said Mike Korchinsky, Wildlife Works’ Founder and President.

Alfred Gichu, a senior assistant director at Kenya Forest Service (KFS) said the validation will help protect and restore forest resources while bringing significant financial and environmental benefits to the poor sectors of rural population.

“We plan to build on this success working closely with Wildlife Works Carbon, to assist us and Kenya’s rural landowners to manage the technical complexity of the global carbon market and to engage the global carbon offset buyers in our efforts to protect our wilderness heritage, while contributing to global efforts in climate change mitigation.”

Independent verifier

The project was validated by independent verifier Scientific Certification Systems (SCS) an environmental audit company.

SCS conducted both desk and field-based assessment activities and found that, in addition to conforming to the 14 required criteria, the Kasigau Corridor REDD project meets two additional, optional CCB criteria qualifying the project for Gold Level status.

The concept of Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation was first introduced into the climate change negotiations in 2005.