ReForest by Inheritance India
Pitch
Reforestation coupled with sustainable community enterprise and carbon credits is key to integrate climate actions with Indias development.
Description
Summary
The central idea for this concept is to have reforestation programs introduced in commercial plantation zones and degraded buffer areas of protected forest networks and integrate them with additional income generation options for local communities.
Plantations for coffee, tea, rubber have surrounding them large tracts of unutilized degraded land. This land if used for forestation and replanting of endemic species has four important benefits -
i. Creation of carbon sinks for GHG emissions which directly impact Climate Change.
ii. Creation of fresh income generation opportunities for local people through the additional forestation and forestry products.
iii. Significant improvement of biodiversity in the plantation areas that are dominated by mono-culture crops and a gradual build-up of natural resources like water and clean air quality for the entire region.
iv. Income generation from voluntary carbon offsets generated from carbon sinks developed through monitored scientific methodologies and carbon credits that will be claimed from the forestation program.
A pilot program has already been successfully implemented on these lines by the promoters of this concept and an independent carbon pre-feasibility assessment conducted showing healthy indices.
The potential exists to implement this program over several Western Ghats states and the state of Manipur in the North East of India. In one of the southern states of the Western Ghats approximately 100,000 acres of rubber plantation land is immediately available for such a program. It further benefits the farmers and planters as alternative income from reforestation programs provide sustainability when plantation products are impacted by crop damage, fluctuating market demand or climate issues. The program for reforestation plays an important role in providing a balance and therefore gets their buy-in to the concept.
Which proposals are included in your plan and how do they fit together?
REDD+ is the carbon protocol best suited for this venture. We have designed a specifically trademarked voluntary carbon standard for our venture titled- the Tiger Standard.
We are not yet in direct contact with other Climate CoLab proposals, but we are looking forward to get in contact with some of the other interesting related proposals to explore synergies.
The following projects focus on the planting of native trees and involve community aspects as well.
- Global 4C: Managing Land for Carbon Sequestration with Smart Money
- A mission to mitigate 25 MtCO2 within 2025
- Red Tree: Developing sustainable communities by growing productive ecosy...
- Analog forestry: productive conservation to fight deforestation in the Amazon
- Save Kilimanjaro: Carbon Capture. Forest Conservation. Sustainable Communities.
Explanation of the emissions scenario calculated in the Impact tab
An independent scientific pre-feasibility assessment has already been conducted by a UNFCCC accredited organization based on our pilot project implementation of sequestered carbon.
Their complete report of 55 pages is available for reference. The project estimation is also available for reference.
Both documents are available by request mail to- lygiamathews@gmail.com.
The study is titled - II_Nexus_Kerala pre-assessment draft v2.pdf.
The project estimation document is titled - II Concept July 2015.pdf
What are the plan’s key benefits?
The implementation of this plan will strengthen the roll-out potential of the Tiger Standard designed by us for carbon offsets generated by similar ventures. Indian emitters could then easily utilize the Tiger Standard for purchasing carbon credits through offset projects.
This will certainly make a significant impact given that Indian industry is mandated as of the last year to contribute 2% of profit to CSR linked projects which all Tiger Standard ventures are by definition.
All other desirable outcomes are outlined in the Summary. These outcomes could be further embellished by the addition of several clear income generators such as energy from biomass from the plantation sites, natural fiber products using locally available skill resources and raw material.
The REDD+ program of the UN is the nearest suited program for implementing this plan in India and expanding it around the world especially in India and South East Asia.
What are the plan’s costs?
Project costs and financial plan estimations are included in a file titled - II Concept July 2015.pdf which is available on mail request to: lygiamathews@gmail.com
The only negative side effects will come from non-availability of funds as projected especially for the initial phase because land use options from project players will not be available to us indefinitely if not made use of or implemented as per the proposed schedule.
What are the key challenges to enacting this plan?
Funding is the major obstacle. However reforestation as a Climate Change initiative supported by a locally designed voluntary carbon offset financial tool like the Tiger Standard should satisfy potential funders such as industrial emitters both in India and in other parts of the world.
Funding obstacles from Indian emitters can be overcome by their complying with the recent CSR funding mandatory which states that 2% of profits for all companies in India exceeding a profit of Indian Rupees 5.0 crores is required by law. All environmental sustainability projects fall under the Government of India's CSR definition and are also part of the rural development agenda.
Timeline
Timelines & Funding
Phase 1: US$ 5-10m.......October to December 2015
Pilot project development - Already implemented
Master Plan development for 100,000 acre Tiger Standard project - June 2016.
Initiating development of other sites-By June 2016.
Investment Choices:
a. A percentage of carbon offsets
b. Negotiated equity in Inheritance India
c. A combination of equity and offsets
(Phase 1 of the funding can also be a mix of donor and equity investment.)
Phase 2: US$5m…................July 2016
Master Plan Implementation - Stage I
Master Plan development for other sites
Investment Choices
a. A percentage of carbon offsets
b. Negotiated equity in Inheritance India
c. A combination of equity and offsets
Phase 3: US$ 2.5m.....……October 2016
US$ 2.5m……… ..January 2017
Master Plan implementation - Stage II
Master Plan implementation for other sites – Stage I
Related plans
Key actors include:
Local panchayats, Plantation Owners, Plantation Workers, Local Community residents, Forest Department of the Government, Ministry of Environment & Forests & Climate Change, scientific forestry bodies and educational institutions. We have recently entered into partnership with a hill tribe from North East India with 5 lakh (half a million) members.
Other actors include emitters like large national and multinational corporations existing in India, Ithe municipal corporations of Indian towns and cities and military and security forces of the Government of India.
The region benefits from the venture and all stakeholders in the area are strengthened by the sustainable program proposed because both environmental and financial factors are being strengthened, nurtured and maintained through implementation of all the project parameters and partnerships.
References
One key study supporting carbon mapping and the feasibility assessment of the plan is available for reference as mentioned earlier against email to- lygiamathews@gmail.com It is not possible to attach the 55 page doc here as there seems no provision for it in the given format.
By:
Inheritance India
