Carbon Trading
Hugh Harries
"Discussion with colleagues in the NR Group ( www.theNRGroup.net) and subsequently the UK International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED; www.iied.org) suggest that there could be commercial interest in investment in coconut replanting in the form of carbon trading initiatives to offset carbon emission from industrial sectors. This concept is still in its infancy, but some international carbon trading is already occurring, particularly in the forestry sector. Assistance with a coconut rehabilitation programme might be seen by multinational companies as a good way to combine corporate social responsibility with carbon offsetting. This needs to be explored by government and/or private sectors. Enquiry points are the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM; http://www.eccm.uk.com/) and a guide recently published by Context plc, A UK consultancy specializing in corporate responsibility (see: http://www.econtext.co.uk/downloads/carbon_offset.pdf)."
roup...@vanuatu.com.vu
Regarding this topic of C fxation by coconut plantations, I stress the fact that CIRAD led scientifical assessments of CO2 balance at the scale of a coconut plantations in Vanuatu since 2001, using state-of-the-art techniques (micro-meterorology, eddy covariance, biomass and soil C surveys). Some results have already been published, some to be published (see listing attached).
Briefly, a coconut plantation can potentially fix a large amount of
CO2, which is typical and consistent with other evergreen ecosystems from
the humid tropics. This was the case, actually in Vanuatu (fertile soils,
no seasonal water stress).
However, one might first consider the "ecosystem of reference": if
the initial (reference) ecosystem was a forest, there is NO CHANCE to recover
the initial amount of C which was lost during forest felling, even after
60 years of plantation of coconut trees. No Kyoto application possible
(apart from cocofuel).
On the contrary, if the initial system was an abandonned or degraded
land, the coconut grove would likely store C in the biomass and in the
soil organic matter.
I think it would be worth maintaining a sub-coconutnewsgroup about this
important topic.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Olivier Roupsard.
-----------------------------------
Hugh Harries a écrit :
>From Eden-Green's recent report on Mozambique http://www.mcc.gov/about/reports/other/mcc-2006-clydreport.pdf"Discussion with colleagues in the NR Group ( www.theNRGroup.net) and subsequently the UK International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED; www.iied.org) suggest that there could be commercial interest in investment in coconut replanting in the form of carbon trading initiatives to offset carbon emission from industrial sectors. This concept is still in its infancy, but some international carbon trading is already occurring, particularly in the forestry sector. Assistance with a coconut rehabilitation programme might be seen by multinational companies as a good way to combine corporate social responsibility with carbon offsetting. This needs to be explored by government and/or private sectors. Enquiry points are the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM; http://www.eccm.uk.com/) and a guide recently published by Context plc, A UK consultancy specializing in corporate responsibility (see: http://www.econtext.co.uk/downloads/carbon_offset.pdf)."
--
Olivier Roupsard
Agro-Physiologiste / Crop Physiologist
CIRAD-UPR 80- "Fonctionnement et Pilotage des Ecosystèmes de
Plantations"
Centre Agronomique de Recherche et de Formation du Vanuatu (VARTC)
BP 231
Espiritu Santo
VANUATU (Pacifique Sud)
Tel : (678)36 890
Fax : (678)36 355
Email : roup...@vanuatu.com.vu
Severino Magat
On the contrary, if the initial system was an abandonned or degraded land, the coconut grove would likely store C in the biomass and in the soil organic matter. "
Dear Coconut group
Regarding this topic of C fxation by coconut plantations, I stress the fact that CIRAD led scientifical assessments of CO2 balance at the scale of a coconut plantations in Vanuatu since 2001, using state-of-the-art techniques (micro-meterorology, eddy covariance, biomass and soil C surveys). Some results have already been published, some to be published (see listing attached).
Briefly, a coconut plantation can potentially fix a large amount of CO2, which is typical and consistent with other evergreen ecosystems from the humid tropics. This was the case, actually in Vanuatu (fertile soils, no seasonal water stress).
I think it would be worth maintaining a sub-coconutnewsgroup about this important topic.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Olivier Roupsard.
-----------------------------------
Hugh Harries a écrit :>From Eden-Green's recent report on Mozambique http://www.mcc.gov/about/reports/other/mcc-2006-clydreport.pdf--"Discussion with colleagues in the NR Group ( www.theNRGroup.net) and subsequently the UK International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED; www.iied.org) suggest that there could be commercial interest in investment in coconut replanting in the form of carbon trading initiatives to offset carbon emission from industrial sectors. This concept is still in its infancy, but some international carbon trading is already occurring, particularly in the forestry sector. Assistance with a coconut rehabilitation programme might be seen by multinational companies as a good way to combine corporate social responsibility with carbon offsetting. This needs to be explored by government and/or private sectors. Enquiry points are the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECCM; http://www.eccm.uk.com/) and a guide recently published by Context plc, A UK consultancy specializing in corporate responsibility (see: http://www.econtext.co.uk/downloads/carbon_offset.pdf)."
Olivier Roupsard
Agro-Physiologiste / Crop Physiologist
CIRAD-UPR 80- "Fonctionnement et Pilotage des Ecosystèmes de Plantations"
Centre Agronomique de Recherche et de Formation du Vanuatu (VARTC)
BP 231
Espiritu Santo
VANUATU (Pacifique Sud)
spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
http://mail.yahoo.com
velamoor rajagopal
It is indeed a good piece of work on carbon
trading in coconut planattions, which Dr.Oliever
could demonstrate well. As Plant Physiologist myself,
I happened to visit the field/laboratory of Dr.Oliever
in Vanautu in 2004. It was good attempt with clear
objectives and methodology that generated valuable
data. My personal discussion with Oliever helped
me to initiate similar work in CPCRI, which is
progressing.
Now that many coconut countries are evincing interest
on carbon trading in plantation crops, it is perhaps
appropriate that an International Seminar be
held to debate on various issues of relevance on
the environmental development. I suggest that either
Biodeiversity International or APCC or any of the
National coconut development boards/authorities
take the lead to organize such a meet of concerned
scientists. This proposal may be considered by the
google coconut group and send comments. I can help
in whatever way possible to see that the International
semina\r is held in 2007.
V.Rajagopal, Former Director, CPCRI
India
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam
> protection around
> http://mail.yahoo.com
>
>
>
___________________________________________________________
New Yahoo! Mail is the ultimate force in competitive emailing. Find out more at the Yahoo! Mail Championships. Plus: play games and win prizes.
http://uk.rd.yahoo.com/evt=44106/*http://mail.yahoo.net/uk
George, Maria Luz (Bioversity-Malaysia)
Luz
COGENT
roup...@vanuatu.com.vu
Greetings from Vanuatu, and please transfer also my best wishes to our
colleagues, Mrs Eroy, Mr Coronacion, Mr Margate and Mr. Carpio when you
meet them.
> Could you further elaborate or clarify this (below) of your initial
> notes/reminder on the matter of coconut ecosystem carbon (CO2)
> sequestration. Are your referring to net gains in both the crop and
> soil as the crop develops or at full maturity ? In the country, I'm
> projecting great interest in "carbon trading" in new farms with
> coconut + tree crop species (fruit crops, industrial tree crops,
> Gmelina arborea or yemane).
>
> Yes, it deserves clarification.
> As long as they grow, ecosystems fix C every year. However, the LULUCF
> (land use change) from the MDP of the Kyoto Protocol requires that you
> define what was your "reference scenario" for comparison. Depending of
> this reference, you might find no storage at all...
>
> -First I was talking about C balance of the full ecosystem (including
> coconut palm + understorey, which was grass in our case+soil)
> -Regarding the age now, we had two types of results here:
> . first, we measured the C balance of a 20 year-old plantation (full
> maturity) during 3 years and we found about 3.3 tC ha-1 year-1 of
> storage by this ecosystem (paper 1 APCC listed yesterday, tab.3).
> Please don't take this figure for granted, it was probably
> under-esetimated in this rapid APCC paper. In a peer-reviewed
> publication, (paper 2) with new updated analyses, we found even more
> storage of C.
> . second, we compared the soil organic matter (SOM) in the toplayers
> of ground of the original forest (that had been clearcut for coconut
> planting years ago, of which some remains were still available for
> sampling) and a of times series (called chronosequence) of coconut
> plantations, up more than 35 year-old (paper 1 APCC, fig.5). We found
> that after an quick loss of around 25% C and N and SOM just after
> felling the forest, the loss was not yet recovered at the end of the
> first rotation of coconut plantation. Moreover, the stock would
> likely decrease during the next coconut felling, before the second
> rotation. Remember lso that the biomass and necromass are generally
> much larger in the forest than in the coconut plantation. It means
> that, shifting from a forest to a plantation results in a net loss of
> C from biosphere to atmosphere. In other words, the coconut plantation
> does fix C during its growth, but never enough to recover from the
> initial loss durng forest felling. On the contrary, starting from a
> degraded environment would have probably led to C storage. This is
> what we are all looking for !
>
> As a conclusion, when you start a LULUCF MDP project, your reference
> scenario should rather be a SOM and biomass-poor land (abandonned,
> degraded) before the plantation, in order to maximise your chances of
> storage. Associating the coconuts with an understorey of legume trees
> is probably a good way to restore the fertility, the productivity and
> the C storage of the system.But you may also prefer fruit trees,
> depending on other economical constraints.
>
>
> Yours Faithfully,
>
> Olivier