NGO "ANOTHER WAY" (STICHTING BAKENS VERZET), NETHERLANDS, SUSTAINABLE INTEGRATED SELF-FINANCING DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS AND ADVANCED DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGIES

For CDM activity on grasslands and croplands, bamboo plantations are preferred to other possible crops because of the superior features of bamboo with regard to rapid growth, yield, flexibility of use, (eventually) food supply, and potential for creating occupations and added value. In semi-arid and arid areas where water supply is a problem, preference may be given to mixed or to alternative forest crops.

Small-scale agro-forestry activities on grasslands and croplands are covered under CDM Sector 14 - Afforestation and reforestation (AR).

The preferred methodology is AR-AMS-0001 “Simplified baseline and monitoring methodologies for small-scale A/R CDM project activities implemented on grasslands or croplands with limited displacement of pre-project activities.”

The project area is the area of each individual integrated development project. All of the technical parameters for methodology AR-AMS-0001 are usually automatically met there. These are:

“(a) Project activities are implemented on grasslands or croplands;

“(b) Project activities are implemented on lands where the area of the cropland within the project boundary displaced due to the project activity is less than 50 per cent of the total project area;

“(c) Project activities are implemented on lands where the number of displaced grazing animals is less than 50 per cent of the average grazing capacity of the project area;

“(d) Project activities are implemented on lands where ≤ 10% of the total surface project area is disturbed as result of soil preparation for planting.”

Assuming a minimum area of 1700 hectares of full-density planting and 250 tank commission or local development unit areas in a given integrated development project area, each with 40-50 families, the planted area would be about 7 hectares (and a maximum in case of low density plantations of 16 hectares) per tank commission area or an area of say, 300m x 240m. Where plantations are less intensive, an area of up to 550m x 550m might be needed.

Careful analysis is needed before bamboo is adopted for CDM purposes in arid and semi-arid areas as regular and systematic provision of water and fertiliser by hand for say 7500 plants in each local development area is no joke. Establishment of a bamboo plantation is a major operation. Assuming hand-fed drip irrigation for 7.500 bamboo plants in dry seasons requires one minute per plant, one person can manage about 60 plants an hour or 480 plants per day. Assuming a five-day working week and a cycle of two water treatments a week, each person can handle 1200 plants. This means that about 6 people could be needed in each local development area to look after the 7.500 bamboo plants in dry seasons. Assuming dry seasons last 8 months or 35 weeks, the total number of hours worked could therefore be 35 weeks x 40 hours per week x 6 people, or 8.400 hours per year on an on-going basis. Most on-going work is done during the dry seasons, when the traditional work load on rural communities is lighter than during the rainy seasons. This is an advantage. Another advantage is that the work can be carried out by anyone, including blind and handicapped people.

Once a plantation is established on-going work is permanent, but less intensive than in the establishment phase.

Assuming a labour requirement of 8.400 hours’ work per year in each of the 250 local development units, local money costs amounting to 8.400 hours x 10 local currency units (this is the average expected working rate under the local money systems), would be involved. This amounts to 84.000 local currency units per year in each local development unit area. Assuming there are 180 adults in that local unit area, the annual cost to each adult is about 500 local currency units, equal to fifty hours’ work, or work for about six days, per adult per year. These are the “costs” the local populations need to agree to carry. Until harvested wood products made from bamboo are accepted for carbon accounting, the harvested bamboo does not add to CO2 sinks and does not qualify for CDM financing. It is replaced annually. It is therefore renewable biomass, which can be freely used indefinitely and on an on-going basis for the manufacture of mini-briquettes for cook stoves and the production of many other items.

The growth cycle of the bamboo plant is about seven years, after which the CO2 stored in the plantation is maintained by selective cropping. This means that CDM financing is paid out on the period of increment of CO2 storage, which is 7 years. After that, the plantation must be properly maintained to avoid the need to repay the CDM funds received for CO2 storage.

Since the local community pays the six operators to carry out the work on the plantations, the bamboo produced belongs to the community. It is sold under the local money system to members of the community who use it for the labour-intensive production of goods. Residues are sold to the local cooperatives making mini-briquettes for stoves. Licenses can be sold to local community members to collect edible bamboo shoots for consumption or local distribution. Eventually, excess production can be sold outside the integrated development project area for formal money. In these ways, the local populations should recover all, or most, of their annual 500 local currency units costs. Apart from providing food and medicines, bamboo can be used to make innumerable products for which there is a natural market in integrated development project areas. These include the construction of houses, scaffolding, furniture, quality flooring, mats, wall materials, bicycles, and paper. It is not suitable for the production of cloth without the use of heavy chemicals. This is inconsistent with the ecological principles of integrated development projects.

The productive activities will be modelled to the requirements of the integrated development project area as a whole. Commonly required items will produced and consumed in each local development unit area. More specialised items will be produced for sale in the intermediate development unit areas. Highly specialised items such as bamboo bicycles will be made for distribution and sale at general project level.

In section Notes specific to the role of bamboo in afforestation and reforestation (AR) projects it was shown that the plantation area required for each integrated development project is a minimum of 1700 hectares for full density planting (10.000 culms per hectare) to a maximum of 9000 hectares for minimum density planting (2.000 culms per hectare). Assuming 250 local development units in each integrated development project area, an average bamboo plantation of 7 hectares at each local administrative unit level can be assumed. This might be a larger, less intensively planted, area but the CO2 emissions reductions should be the same. These should be to the order of 60 tonnes of CO2. At about Euro 14 per tonne CO2 (14^th November 2009), this means an annual income in each local development unit area of at least € 840 per year, or € 5.880 over the 7 year plantation maturation period.

8.400 hours work per year over 7 years, the total amount of work to produce the gross CDM income of € 5.880 is 58.800 hours, or 7.350 working days of eight hours each. Formal money income for the benefit of the project as a whole is therefore about € 0,80 per day’s work, less DOE (designated operational entity) costs. Formal money returns of € 0,80 per day may seem very low. However, the people carrying out the maintenance of the bamboo forests are fully paid under the local money system. Each of the 250 local development units in the project area benefits fully from the bamboo it produces. Assuming an average production of 8 tonnes per hectare, 7 hectares will produce 56 tonnes of bamboo biomass per year. Each local development unit will decide on how it wants to use that production to add value to it.

Small-scale projects cover up to 15000 tonnes of CO2 per year. This means that at about Euro 14 per tonne CO2 (14^th November 2009), income from a small-scale bamboo AR project can reach a gross amount of € 210.000 for 15000 tonnes of CO2 savings per year, or Euro 1.470.000 over a CDM payment period of seven years. This alone is 39% of the initial formal money cost of an integrated development project.

Assuming the execution of up to 2500 integrated development projects for West Africa (excluding Nigeria and Ghana) the scheme would produce a CDM gross income of € 3.675.000.000. General application of the concepts in Nigeria would deliver roughly the same benefits. The amounts are subject to the deduction of DOE (designated operational entity ) verification costs. It is assumed these can be reduced to a nominal figure within the framework of a widely applicable general convention of the type foreseen.

Not only Pandas like bamboo. Ruminants eat it too. Bamboo leaves have been used for animal fodder in Asia for many centuries. This means that each local development unit in an integrated development project area will need to protect its bamboo plantation. Provided equipment can be safely guarded, electric fences operating on photovoltaic power (PV) may offer an appropriate solution to this problem. An average area of 300 m x 240m can probably be managed through a single electric fence system.

In humid tropical areas with high rainfall (1780 mm – 2280 mm), thought might be given to planting some African oil palms (Elaeis guineensis). Exploited commercially, they can produce up to 2 tonnes of oil per hectare. They bear their first fruit after three-four years. For specific information on the use of palms as possible carbon sinks read Lamade E. and Bouillet J-P, a Carbon storage and global change : the role of oil palm, Oléagineux, Corps Gras, Lipides (OCL )Vol. 12 no. 2 . John Libbey €text, Montrouge, Mars-Avril 2005, pp. 155-160. Carbon storage can range from 1.5 tonnes of carbon storage (5.5 tonnes CO2) per hectare per year in natural forest environments to 13,4 tonnes of carbon (49 tonnes of CO2) per hectare per year in non-harvested plantations. Where national definitions of forest include palms, short term build-up of carbon sinks under the CDM mechanism over the first four years and subsequent carbon maintenance offers an interesting option in humid tropical areas.

In principle, CDM bamboo projects are one-off projects for each integrated development area. Bamboo supply from the one project should be enough to meet the requirements and processing possibilities of the local populations.

Menu for : 09. CDM funding indications for the selected applications and methodologies.

09-01. CO2 savings through the reduced use of non-renewable biomass for cooking purposes through the introduction of improved stoves.

09-02. Demonstration project for the recovery of forest lands and natural parks and reserves using traditional species.

09.03. Afforestation activities in settlements as defined for the distributed planting of fruit and nut trees and similar.

09-04. Small-scale agro-forestry activities – such as distributed bamboo plantations on grasslands and croplands.

09-05. Small-scale agro-forestry activities – distributed demonstration plantations for practical purposes for local use, including but not limited to Moringa plantations on marginal lands.

09-06. Demonstration afforestation and/or reforestation (AR) projects on wetlands using traditional species.

09-07. Demonstration afforestation and/or reforestation projects on lands having low inherent potential to support living biomass.

09-08. Use of renewable biomass instead of non-renewable biomass with improved cook stoves.

09-09. Recycling of human waste to avoid the use of industrial fertilisers.

09-10. Methane recovery from animal waste for cooking and lighting purposes especially in pastoralist areas.

09-11. Replacement of kerosene lamps, incandescent light bulbs, and of the use of throw-away batteries by renewable energy sources (wind, solar and/or renewable bio-mass including but not limited to plant oil, gasification of biomass).