Pitch
By afforesting 2 million hectares of pastureland and 1 million hectares of degraded areas in Ethiopia, 32.3 Mt CO2e can be abated
Description
Summary
This seed proposal is based on Ethiopia's Climate-Resilient Green Economy - Green economy strategy and was prepared by a member of the Climate CoLab staff. We invite other CoLab members to link to this proposal or to use it as a starting point for creating new proposals of their own. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia has not reviewed nor endorsed this proposal.
The report states Ethiopia's plan to afforest 2 million hectares of pastureland and reforest 1 million hectares of degraded areas up to the year 2030. This number came from consultations with forestry experts, analysis of existing afforestation/reforestation projects, and discussions within the report committee.
"From a technical point of view, both afforestation/reforestation and forest management are highly feasible: They do not require any complicated technologies and have already been successfully tried in Ethiopia. In fact, there are several large projects for afforestation/ reforestation (e.g., Humbo CDM) and forest management (e.g., Participatory Forest Management projects) already ongoing – making the country one of the largest afforestation/reforestation areas on the continent. Large pilot projects for REDD+ are in the preparatory stages. A continuing forest data inventory might be helpful to ensure long-term success. In general, there appear to be no cultural or social barriers to implementation."
What actions do you propose?
- The report includes the aggregate impact of non-specified projects that it says are already undergoing or planned in Ethiopia.
Who will take these actions?
A mix of government and non-government actors
Where will these actions be taken?
Ethiopia
How much will emissions be reduced or sequestered vs. business as usual levels?
"The total abatement potential for the year 2030 [for these afforestation, reforestation, and area closure measures] comes to around 32.3 Mt CO2e, with afforestation contributing 21.5 Mt CO2e and reforestation 10.8 Mt CO2e."
"The sequestration rate for both afforestation and reforestation was set at 10.75 t CO2e/ha/year, a number directly taken from the afforestation/reforestation CDM project in Humbo."
What are other key benefits?
"Afforestation/reforestation as well as forest management levers might both lead to additional economic benefits by creating employment, income from sustainable forestry for the managing communities, a stronger link between forest industry and forest development, and eventually even increasing exports and public revenues. Additional benefits such as erosion control and other ecosystem services also speak for the implementation of these measures."
What are the proposal’s costs?
"Abatement cost adds up to around 5 USD/t CO2e.
- Planting material. Planting material costs 300 USD/hectare and is accounted for as CAPEX with an amortisation period of 30 years (based on GHG standard methodology for afforestation/reforestation).
- Nurseries. The team assumed that one nursery, costing USD 50,000, will be needed for every 5,000 hectares. Since a total of 30 nurseries will be needed, this amounts to a CAPEX investment of USD 1.5 million that will amortise over 30 years. A nursery also has operating costs of USD 10,000 per year. In addition, the team estimated USD 1 million in operating expenditures for annual research and development activities.
- Operating cost for afforested/reforested areas. The management and care for afforested/reforested areas is – in consultation with experts – assumed to cost around 30 USD/ha/year.
- Programme cost and additional operating expenditure. A programme cost of around 9 USD/ha/year is incurred over the first three years of afforesting/ reforesting. Other operating expenditures include monitoring costs (around 3 USD/ha/year) for all afforestation/reforestation areas, which was computed based on experiences from the Bale project.
- Economic income effect. Sustainable forestry creates an income from timber and non-timber products, which has been estimated to be around 7 USD/ha per year (based on a possible value of 14 USD/ha/year as evaluated by forestry experts and a realisation factor of 50%).
Time line
Up until 2030
Related proposals
References
- The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia's Climate-Resilient Green Economy - Green economy strategy: http://www.epa.gov.et/Download/Climate/Ethiopai's%20Vision%20for%20a%20Climate%20Resilient%20Green%20Economy.pdf
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