Problem overview:
International commitments: The Kyoto Protocol for the Framework Convention on Climate Change, established firm targets for national emissions levels and identified key elements in how countries could achieve those targets. The Kyoto Protocol made provision for trading in emission credits and for the accounting of carbon dioxide absorbed by forests planted after 1990 as carbon sinks.
Integrating stakeholders: Planting 100,000 hectares of new forests can take up to a million tons of carbon dioxide per year from the atmosphere. But planting forests requires land, labor, and financing. Here is how Australia is networking with State Governments to form joint ventures with landowners for hardwood and softwood plantations.
Background in summary:
How does the Plantation Programme work?: In 1998, the State Forest program of New South Wales began offering annual payments to rural landowners that are willing to have trees grown on their property. The new forests will be planted and managed by State Forests and in return an annual payment will be made to the landowner for the use of the land.
Benefits to land owners: If a landowner has suitable land, Softfarms will pay to grow trees on the land. Land owners will receive, $1,000 up front payment, an annual license fee paid quarterly in advance, of around 5% of the land value and indexed to the CPI, holding shares in the sale of carbon credits to industries (in the future), etc. The hardwood planted forests operate the same way.
Benefits to the environment include: The Timber Plantations Harvesting Code requires a harvesting plan that will minimize soil erosion, prevent blockage of drainage structures and the construction and maintenance of fire breaks. Ecological values of wetlands and any Aboriginal relics and artifacts and native animals and plants must be protected where applicable.
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Good practice rating:
(1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score) |
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Sustainability
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Efficiency
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| 2 |
 Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other. |
2 |
Cost efficient. |
| 2 |
Sustainable over time (not one-off) |
Process |
| Adaptability |
2 |
Participation of the community |
| 4 |
Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?) |
2 |
Participation of resource owners/users |
| 2 |
Socio-cultural adaptability. |
2 |
Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private) |
| 2 |
Level of development adaptability. |
2 |
Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments. |
| 2 |
Style of government adaptability. |
2 |
Ability to attract political interest/support |
| 2 |
Degree of decentralization adaptability. |
2 |
Procedures for feedback and review. |
Comments on this example:
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Sustainability of the project:
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International commitments: Most of the developed countries have responded to the Kyoto Protocol for the Framework Convention on Climate Change by enforcing policy measures to strictly cut down on the level of air pollution emission in order to meet the level of agreement. While developing countries, which do not emit as much carbon dioxide as compared to the developed nations, are looking forward to gaining profit from selling their rights to pollute through the sales of carbon credit.
The case of Australia is however different. Australia, considered as a developed country, is working on selling carbon credits through increase in forest coverage area, instead of cutting down on pollution level, like other developed countries. This approach is considered environmentally and financially very sustainable.
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Adaptability of the project to other situations:
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Level of development adaptability: In countries where farming is the main source of income for the rural people, converting from farming, which is part of the countrys culture and heritage, to tree plantation, might be difficult. Since farmers realize they lack the knowledge of tree plantation, they may feel reluctant to comply. Also, the governments of these countries, with limited budget, normally, are unable to finance or even jump-start the project.
Location adaptability: Another factor is the size of the country. Australia is a large country; therefore, there is plenty of available space for plantation. Smaller countries, such as Singapore, are not so different from cities, with very limited area for agriculture or plantation or no available are for these purposes at all. Perhaps it would be more convenient for Singapore to purchase carbon credits from Australia instead of producing carbon absorbers. Hence, tree plantation is rather limited to only countries with available space.
| Process of decision making and implementation: |
Integrating stakeholders: This is a great idea and is working well. The project has a number of possible partnership arrangements with the landowner gaining a larger share of the crop sale by accepting limited or no annual payments.
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Documentation: |
Literature or other written project review references
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Source of Information: |
State Forests of NSW.
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Contacts: |
Softwood State Forests of New South Wales
Free phone in Australia 1 800 639 691
FAX: International + (612) 6043 1051
Email treefarms@sf.nsw.gov.au
Hardwood State Forests of New South Wales
Free phone in Australia 1 800 639 691
FAX: International + (612) 6642 2129
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Submitted by: |
Mr. Richard Chesher, Director
Tellus Consultants Ltd.
Port Vila, Vanuatu
Chesher@TellusConsultants.com
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