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.

Saladillo blanco – a promising native tree!

For the 2012 planting season Amazonia Reforestation is planting 5 hectares of Vochysia obscura of the Vochysiaceae family at its La Pedregoza plantation. Known locally as Saladillo blanco this tropical tree has many of the characteristics foresters look for. It is fast growing to harvestable maturity (10 to 15 years). It can be planted in marginal soils with high pH content. It does well in low lying areas subject to inundation, allowing for the economic use of areas that do not have good drainage. Best of all, it has a trunk that grows straight and tall, producing fine wood with great commercial acceptance.

The seeds can be collected from wild trees, providing foresters with the opportunity to select the trees with the best apparent genetics. Unlike some other native tree species, the seeds are abundant and do not attract as many animals and birds, making their collection easier. Foresters generally select from which trees they wish to collect seeds when the trees have their bright yellow flowers during the dry season in the Orinoco River basin. The flowers make the trees easy to distinguish and mark for later seed collection activities. The show of flowers also allows the forester to determine just how abundant seed production will be in each tree.

Sprouting tables are used in the tree nursery, with high germination rates observed for the Saladillo blanco. Once the sprout is thumb tall it is transplanted into a planting bag filled with treated soil and placed in the nursery. Like many other tropical trees Vochysia obscura sets deep roots, so forestry engineers determine when the sapling is ready to be transplanted into the field. While the seedlings are in the nursery plantation tractors prepare the soil, deep plowing to a depth of 75 cm (30 inches), which allows the root to go deep quickly. At planting in moist areas tree planters add lime and special forestry fertilizer for best growth results.

Thanks to their straight trunks, these trees reach 20 m (65 feet) in height and some 55 cm (22 inches) in diameter at breast height when they are ready to be harvested. The tree has been planted as an ornamental, but finds its greatest use as cut lumber and as wood for handicrafts, which explains its folkloric history in the llanos orientales or great plains of eastern Colombia. Several authors have recommended this tree for reforestation and afforestation projects, including Luis Enrique Acero Duarte in his “Plantas Utiles de la Cuenca del Orinoco” or “Useful Plants of the Orinoco River basin”.

Caribbean Pine – a profitable plantation tree!

This year Amazonia Reforestation planted 50 hectares or 124 acres of Caribbean Pine or Pinus caribaea, a member of the Pinaceae family. The tree grows well in areas from sea level to 700 m or 2,300 feet, with ample rainfall between 2000 to 3000 mm (78 to 118 inches) per annum. Since Amazonia Reforestation works in the Orinoco River basin of Vichada, Colombia, it meets those criteria readily, as its plantations average 60 m (197 feet) above sea level with annual rainfall around 2,400 mm (95 inches). Pinus caribaea likes sandy, well drained soils with some gravel content, tolerates pH between 5.0 to 5.5 and temperatures ranging from 25 to 38 degrees centigrade (77 to 100 Fahrenheit), all normal conditions in Vichada.

In some ways Pinus caribaea resembles pines with which people from North America or Europe may be familiar, such as evergreen needles and cones. However, that is where the similarity ends, as Caribbean Pine is a fast growing (15 to 20 years to maturity) softwood tree with wood that is harder than many varieties of maple. This tropical tree has a mostly well-formed and straight trunk that culminates in a pyramidal crown at its top. The tree grows to be 30 to 35 meters (98 to 115 feet)  in height, with a trunk that measures from 50 to 100 cm (20 to 40 inches) in diameter, depending on local conditions. The basic density of Pinus caribaea is expressed as being 586 kilograms per cubic meter of green volume, but with a natural hardness that makes the tree suitable for flooring and other uses. The heartwood is considered termite resistant. These factors have made Caribbean Pine a popular plantation species, with an attractive grain, that is profitable, sequesters carbon, and is internationally recognized.

Amazonia Reforestation uses certified seeds from Venezuela, where Caribbean Pine is grown in similar conditions to Vichada. Seeds from Honduras and Guatemala have proven not to be suitable for use in the Orinoco River basin, probably because of their origin in higher, cooler elevations. Trees have both male and female flowers and cones, though some trees may be only male or female. Seed germination is usually easy in managed conditions. Local conditions in Vichada have led Amazonia Reforestation to employ a slightly different process in its tree nurseries, with seedlings being exposed to full sunlight to minimize future shock when transplanted to the field. Soil preparation is as usual important, with plowing to a depth of 75 cm (30 inches) and fertilization using special forestry mixes containing nitrogen. Seedlings are planted in the field when they are only 8 to 10 cm (3 to 4 inches) tall, but this allows the seedling to quickly strike deep roots for better and faster future growth. Seedlings that are planted when they are 20 cm (6 to 8 inches) or taller often have problems, because their roots will start to grow upwards inside the planting bag, causing failure once they are in the field. Planting occurs in grids with trees spaced 2.8 to 3 meters (9 to 10 feet) apart.

Revenue can be generated early (15 years) when the trees are sold for pulpwood, thanks to the wood’s long  tracheids. Besides paper, the pulp can be used for fiberboard, particleboard and chipboard. Opinions differ on its usefulness for furniture, but the fact is that toys, moldings, floor boards and other uses are common. The wood has a high resin content, which may affect gluing and finishing, but on the plus side the trees can be tapped from age 10 years on, with daily harvests of oleoresins, used for turpentine and gum. The oil also finds use in medicinal applications, and the pine nuts are a popular food source in many countries. On the service side, Pinus caribaea has proven itself invaluable for clothing heavily eroded lands containing acidic soils with a tree cover. As with many plantation species, Caribbean Pine is a valuable tropical tree popular with wood  growers and profitable for plantation investors.

Jatropha curcas – Part 1: A profitable solution for pool soils

One of the biggest complaints about growing crops for biodiesel or fuel is that they take away from arable land needed to grow crops for food. However, there are numerous places in tropical and desert zones where the soil is for all practical purposes infertile and unsuitable for growing food crops. This is where Jatropha curcas steps into the picture. This tropical tree is tolerant of very poor soils, gravels, sand and salinity, producing large amounts of oil suitable for biodiesel, while serving to reclaim and improve the poor soil in which it was planted. It also offers the attraction of producing cash renewable energy crops in a short time frame, with a long perennial life span and the promise of socio-economic development opportunities in developing countries. The point this part 1 article wishes to make is that investing in tropical trees is not limited to just lumber profits. Part 2 will be a list of some of the numerous and profitable benefits of growing Jatropha curcas in tropical and semi-tropical locations.

Jatropha curcas grows as a small tree reaching heights of 6 meters or 20 feet. While the tree is known to live for up to 100 years, its productive span for oil production is considered to be between 30 to 40 years. As mentioned it is resistant to aridity, but starts to thrive with as little as 250 mm or 10 inches of annual rainfall. The more rain, the larger the oil crop will be. The oil seeds are encased in an outer fruit that makes excellent fertilizer rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Fruit production starts within 9 months of planting, but best yields start to occur in the 2nd or 3rd year after planting. The yield is amazing: measured on a per hectare basis (2.47 acres) the plantation owner can anticipate average yields of 5000 kilos (5 metric tons) of oil seeds, rendering on average 1,650 kg (1.65 metric tons) of oil and 3,200 kg (3.2 metric tons) of compostable fertilizer. The tree can be propagated both by seed and by cuttings, and the plantation looks for good branching or ramification, as that increases seed yield.

Depending on rainfall, the seeds will render between 27 to 40% oil that can be easily processed to produce  biodiesel for standard diesel engines. The oil cannot be used for human consumption, because the oil and the fruits are highly poisonous, containing both HCN (Hydrogen cyanide or Prussic acid) and toxalbumin curcin, a compound similar to Ricin. However, this is not a bad thing, because it makes Jatropha curcas trees resistant to all sorts of pests and fungi. The said compounds are also a very valuable precursor for pharmaceutical and polymer production. Jatropha curcas is a social tree and can be planted with other trees and plants, in which case it will act like a natural repellent, protecting its neighbours. Seed extraction is low tech, requiring the use of a nut shelling machine or mill and then the use of an oil press, providing employment to local people. Some combustion engines can be modified to use the oil directly, or the oil can be transesterified into biodiesel, which is also a simple and relatively cheap process.



At Amazonia Reforestation we are planting Jatropha curcas as part of our 2011 cultivation schedule. The idea is to make our entire operation energy independent (tractors, trucks, generators) using renewable energy, while creating economic opportunities for local workers. Doing this also fits in with our CO2 Tropical Trees program, as renewable energies like biodiesel and wood pellets can be considered carbon neutral, especially when processed on site.The carbon released is equal to the carbon absorbed by these amazing tropical trees and their oil seeds.