Carbon Credits and Tree Planting

by Dexter B. Dombro

Dexter Dombro (middle) is panelist at VCS event.

December caused something of a celebration at Amazonia Reforestation, as the agent for our plantation company successfully sold 46,000 carbon credits from our grouped certification under the Latin American Icontec standard to a Colombian oil company. While we have made voluntary carbon market sales before, this was the first one our La Pedregoza plantation has accomplished on a carbon exchange. Nevertheless, carbon markets and carbon offsets still have a long way to go to act as true incentives for tree planting.

Doing a VCS workshop with La
Pedregoza plantation workers

La Pedregoza has been certified under 2 different standards. The first is known as the Verified Carbon Standard or VCS. It is internationally recognized and follows a 2 year grouped certification process that was managed by the Fundacion Natura in Bogota, Colombia, involving 5 different tree plantations. The grouped approach significantly reduced certification costs, and happened simultaneously to the establishment of a carbon exchange on Colombia´s stock exchange, where the credits are now listed. Readers may wish to follow our Twitter account at @co2tropicaltree.

Labour policy posted at La Pedregoza.

All the participating plantations have their credits in a common purse, with sales divided between them, based on the percentage of hectares of trees managed by each plantation. La Pedregoza made the decision to participate in a second certification under the Latin American Icontec standard. That standard is the same as the one employed by VCS or by the Gold Standard, but is managed by a different organization. The decision to do both was in order to access different markets for the carbon credits produced by the trees at La Pedregoza. Obviously, we cannot sell the same credits twice under different schemes, so there is a separate protocol for managing that aspect.

More than 50% of a tropical tree's biomass is carbon.

Carbon certifications have 2 principal components. The first is good management, meaning compliance with all local labour laws, no child labour, technical training for workers, good environmental policies, conflict resolution policies, worker health and safety compliance and the like.  The second is more technical, evaluating the age of the plantations, that the cultivations are not in areas that previously had natural forest, and that measurement parcels are established to track growth and carbon sequestration by the trees in each lot.

Residual waste management and recycling
is one of the  certification issues.

At present the international price for a ton of carbon is very low, around $3.50 USD. At the same time, the cost of certification remains high. Costs include not just the initial certification, but also the ongoing audits and verifications required by each standard, with no guarantee that there will be a buyer. Colombia signed the Paris Climate Accord, which means the country will start to regulate its carbon emissions in 2021. This is good news, because it will allow carbon sequestration projects to have a more reliable market for the carbon credits they are producing. Companies that do not voluntarily offset their carbon footprint may find themselves paying a carbon tax, so there is incentive to support tree planting and carbon reduction strategies.

Measuring tree growth and carbon capture in
parcels is part of the certification process.

By way of criticism, the high cost of certification, and the large number of issues being certified, that do not pertain directly to carbon capture, make current mechanisms complicated and for many, unrealistic. There is a popular belief that carbon credits are some sort of bonanza for tree plantations, but in truth they are risky business with a lot of questionable extra costs that many can´t afford or will never recover, especially small producers. This means that tree planting has to rely on other means of income to be sustainable, as the sale of carbon credits is neither a reliable activity, nor a very lucrative one.

Every tree in a measurement parcel has a
unique tag for carbon capture tracking

To truly battle climate change, many countries may have to consider regulated carbon markets that are fair to producers, accessible by all, and that don’t rely on voluntary participation. Many of the standards now being employed are basically designed to make the certifier look like they are doing something. Some of the rules make little sense, for example cashew trees as cultivated in Vichada generally are no more than 5 meters high, but have thick trunks and large canopies; however they are not evaluated as trees, because somewhere there is a rule that a tree needs to be 5 meters tall, even if it looks like a bean pole. Nevertheless, La Pedregoza will continue to plant trees to help the planet, protecting soil, conserving biodiversity, fighting climate change, whether there is a carbon credit at the end of the rainbow or not.

© 2017 Plantación Amazonia el Vita S.A.S.

Creating technical profiles for native tree species in the Orinoco River basin

 by Dexter B. Dombro

Colombia is blessed with 8% of the planet’s biodiversity, something that is very evident in the Orinoco River basin, which is home to numerous species and ecosystems. This biodiversity is readily visible to visitors thanks to the large number of native tree species in the region’s gallery forests, morichals (heavily treed savanna drainage creeks) and caños. Ironically, almost all plantation forestry in the country cultivates introduced tree species and not native tree species. Visitors to Colombia’s capital of Bogotá are often shocked to realize that the trees planted in the hills surrounding Bogotá are Eucalypts, with almost no native tree species represented. This sad reality impacts biodiversity, as native trees support local wildlife, birds and insects that have specific niche requirements for food and shelter, which are not available to those animals with introduced tree species. The result is a loss of biodiversity.

Caraipa llanorum seed collection.

The Colombian government has a subsidy program to encourage commercial tree planting, called the Certificado Incentivo Forestal or CIF for short (Forestry Incentive Certification program in English), but amazingly the program includes almost no native tree species in its list of approved tree types, and none which are native to the Orinoco River basin. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in Colombia has a simple excuse: There are no technical profiles for native tree species, so we don’t know if they can be cultivated. Secondly, there are no certified sources for seeds for native tree species, so we don’t want to waste the taxpayer’s money on subsidies that won’t produce commercially acceptable results.

Setting up germination tables at La Pedregoza.

At a public event in which La Pedregoza promoted the planting of native tree species, a bureaucrat from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, referring to plantation forestry, stated in public: “The problem is that native trees don’t grow in Colombia!” Besides this being a ridiculous and absurd statement, it is not really supported by the facts. The real problem is that there is a lack of knowledge regarding native tree species and how best to cultivate them. As a result, La Pedregoza has been working to create technical profiles or specifications for native tree species for some time now. Unfortunately, the process of creating a technical profile for the commercial cultivation of a tree species can be a 10 year long process, so having adequate funding and investigative continuity is often a problem.

Investigating densities and species behavior in the Reserva Natural La Pedregoza.

Why is this important? There are several answers to this that should help one to understand the issues:

1. It makes sense to cultivate trees for commercial use, rather than to continue to chop down natural forests. Would you rather have your coffee table made out of plantation lumber, or out of old growth rainforest wood? In our opinion the answer is a no-brainer.
2. Plantation forestry allows natural forests to recover, with all of the added benefits of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and protection against climate change. 
3. Commercializing a tree species is often the best way to conserve and protect a tree, which otherwise is at risk of extinction due to over-exploitation of the species in its natural setting. 
4. Plantation forestry is virtually always a legal activity creating legal employment and socioeconomic development, whereas much of the planet’s forestry is illegal, with little benefit to local communities. For example, the World Bank estimates that 60% of the lumber and wood produced in Colombia comes from illegal sources.
5. Commercial tree plantations are a structured and easy way to increase the tree-based carbon capture in a country. Planting trees is a proactive strategy, whereas simply trying to preserve an existing forest does not result in increased carbon capture in the struggle against climate change.

There are numerous other benefits, but for the purpose of this article the ones listed above should help the reader to understand the main issues.

 

Germination of Aceite or Copaifera pubiflora at La Pedregoza.

So what exactly is required to create a useful technical profile for a tree species? Much of it involves simple experimentation and observation, while some of it does require laboratory analysis. What follows is a list of some of the issues that require investigation when creating a technical profile for a tree:

Preparing the soil at a planting site.

1. What is the best manner of collecting the seeds and how should they be stored? How long do the seeds last before they start to decay?
2. Do the seeds need any kind of special processing to enhance germination? For example removing a shell, or using sandpaper to thin the seed shell in order to make germination easier, or soaking the seeds for 24 hours to encourage germination.
3. Germination tables are used to closely watch how fast germination occurs. Some species germinate in 3 or 4 days, others take 3 or 4 weeks. Statistics are kept of the germination rate. Some species have a low germination rate of 50%, others as high as 99%.
4. Some seedlings are sacrificed to observe root development. Some species have a tap root that is twice as long as the above ground plant. This dictates the type of planting bag or tube that is used. It also helps determine the optimum time for managing the seedling in a tree nursery before planting in the field.
5. Regardless, it is sometimes useful to learn how to manage the seedling over a long period of time in a tree nursery setting. For example, some restoration of degraded areas projects in difficult conditions, such as a strong current during the inundation season, may require the seedlings to be larger and more robust before they can be planted, something that wouldn’t matter in a cultivation setting.
6. There are many ways of managing seedlings in a tree nursery, all of which require investigation to determine which have higher mortality rates, and which cause additional economic costs before planting in the field.
7. There are different ways of preparing the soil at the final planting site, all of which need to be tried to see how the tree responds. For example, some trees need a deep ploughed furrow that allows roots to penetrate downward quickly, whereas others are only superficial rooters and respond better to small hillocks. 
8.  Soil samples need to be taken at planting sites and analyzed, to see how the trees respond to different conditions, and whether the tree needs anything special added to some soils, but not to others. For example, some trees are happy in sandy or rocky soils, but do not respond well to soils with high clay content. Some are happy in wet soils, while others need well-drained soils. 
9. Some trees need formation pruning in order to establish a primary tree trunk that is commercially attractive. Others need sanitary pruning, for example in order to avoid low handing branches touching the ground, causing fungal infections. Some trees need almost no maintenance, but it is important to understand the tree’s requirements for budget purposes and for maintenance and care purposes.
10. The tree needs to be observed to determine in what densities it should be planted and what types of culls may be needed, depending on the objective of the cultivation.
11. Other investigations are need to determine when it is best to fertilize the tree, and whether 1 or 2 fertilizations a year are needed, as that can be important in terms of growth, but also costly in terms of labour requirements.
12. How a tree responds to different types of fertilizers is recorded, whether that be agrochemical or organic. Does a tree have special requirements, for example does a tree need more phosphorus or sulfur in the soil that say another species? Many fruit trees need extra silica, whereas most lumber and wood trees don’t. 
13.  Average growth of a tree species is measured and monitored. This allows a commercial planter to determine how many years the cultivation needs to be maintained and what the expected financial returns might be. 
14.  Analysis of a native tree’s woody biomass provides information on wood quality, color and attractiveness, shows how much carbon the tree can capture, whether the fiber content of the wood can be used for pulp and paper, whether its kilo-calorie content makes it suitable for bio-energy uses like pellets, what its wood density and resistance to termites or rot is like, as well as information on its suitability for structural strength or use in applications that need elasticity. 
15. The tree is observed to see if it is social. For example, can it be planted as a shade tree for another species, like cacao, or is it aggressive killing other species that are nearby? 
16. Good technical profiles include investigating traditional uses for the species, such as for medicinal or alimentary, arts and crafts, general or high end carpentry, ornamental or dozens of other possible uses and applications. 

Taking soil samples is a continuous process.

At La Pedregoza we have developed a form with more than 8 pages of questions that need to be answered, many of which require several years of investigation and observation. This explains in part why having reliable, long term funding is so crucial to the creation of useful technical profiles for native tree species.

Humans require wood for many reasons, but its production should support biodiversity and be sustainable.

One of the results of this work is the establishment of cultivations of native trees, which serve another purpose as well. Those cultivations allow us to select the trees with the best genetic characteristics, in order to start to offer certified seeds to other plantations and tree growers, thereby eliminating the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s excuses for not supporting native tree species. Tree-Nation members have indirectly supported our efforts with their purchases of native tree species, something for which we are very grateful. Technical profiles may sound boring, but they are important tools of biodiversity protection, of conservation and understanding of the world around us. For us the work we do at La Pedregoza is passion mixed with dedication and love for trees. What more can one say?

© 2017 Corporación Ambiental La Pedregoza