Carbon pools and multiple benefits

CARBON POOLS AND MULTIPLE BENEFITS OF MANGROVES ASSESSMENT FOR REDD+ IN CENTRAL AFRICA

© Günther Klaus

highest carbon values possible. This report thus presents a strong case for policy-makers in Central Africa to include mangroves in national and regional REDD+ readiness plans and strategies. Unfortunately, these valuable ecosystems were cleared at a rate of 17.7% for the region over 10 years (1.77% per year) from 2000 to 2010, although there seems to be significant grow back and the net loss rate was only 1.58% over the same period (0.16% per year). The rate of clearing in protected areas was an average of 12.2% over the same 10 year period with net loss of 1.3% over 10 years. This implies that there might be a lack of enforcement in the mangrove protected areas, and the enforcement capacity in the protected areas should be reinforced. However, it should be verified when the protected areas were put in place and the trajectory of mangrove cover, since the protected areas were declared, before assessing their effectiveness. As well as carbon benefits, mangroves also provide multiple benefits to communities living in their vicinity. The multiple benefits of mangroves can exceed the value of carbon, and this study has shown that mangroves could provide values up to the equivalent of USD 11,286 per ha in seawall replacement, USD 7,142 per ha in benefits for protection of rural infrastructure against shoreline erosion (151,948 USD per ha for urban mangroves), USD 545 (49.53 tons of wood) per ha per year per household in wood consumption and USD 12,825 per ha per year in fisheries benefits. The benefits of tourism are still very small,

with opportunities for growth. Furthermore, the carbon values have not been capitalized upon yet, as no carbon finance mechanism (either through funds or carbon markets) exist for mangroves in the region despite the high potential. At the time of writing, the prices of carbon credits are at an all-time low and carbon market projects are often not financially viable given the high upfront costs, the high transaction costs and the low market price of carbon. This may evolve in the coming years with negotiations on a global climate agreement. Carbon finance can also nonetheless be available through a combination of non-market and market based approaches, for instance, through national REDD+ funding arrangements. At the time of writing, the prices of carbon credits are at an all-time lowand carbonmarket projects are often not financially viable given the high upfront costs, the high transaction costs and the low market price of carbon. New methodologies for the Clean Development Mechanism and for voluntary market standards have recently been developed so an increase in mangrove carbon market projects is possible in the future, however currently the incentives for this are low and only afforestation/reforestation projects are permissible (meaning that avoided emissions from conservation of pristine mangroves are not currently taken into account). Also, the implementation and transaction costs of small scale projects will always strongly challenge economic effectiveness and success, and possibly prevent any scaling up. New methodologies for carbon accounting are

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