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Abstract
Capturing carbon by planting trees or avoiding deforestation is thought to be a cost-effective way to reduce the inexorable rise in CO2 in the atmosphere. We describe a way to motivate African farmers to plant trees and protect woodland, based on a Mozambican pilot project in the voluntary carbon market. By late 2009, 1510 farmers were enrolled. Between 2003 and 2009, the project was able to sell carbon credits totaling approximately US$1.3 million on the voluntary carbon market, corresponding to 156,000 tCO2, at a price that averaged US$9.0 per ton. Moreover, the effect of the carbon project was to increase rural employment from 8.6 to 32%, whilst 73% of households raised commercial crops compared with 23% previously. There was also a notable development of social capital, with a measurable increase in literacy and the development of a business ethos with associated practical skills.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank all our colleagues who participated in the project. At the University of Edinburgh: Luke Spaddevechia, Gudrun Wallentin, Silvia Flaherty, Sarah Carter and Jim Wright; at the Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management: Alex Smith, Willie McGhee, Will Garrett and Jessica Orrego; at Envirotrade: Robin Birley, Piet van Zyl, Antonio Serra and the team of field technicians; Masters students: Rohit Jindal, Evelina Sambane, Joao Fernando, Roberto Zolho, Alastair Herd and Claire Ghee; External Evaluators: Taco Koistra, Jan Wolf and Antonio Marzoli. We wish especially to thank Joanna Pennie for her excellent work and patience as the project administrator.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
We acknowledge financial support from the European Union, contract Contract No. B7-6200/2002/063-241/MZ, and the helpful comments of the referees. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.