A multi-million dollar project aimed at developing tools that would help boost carbon trading in Africa and targeting village communities in Western Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and Western China was launched on Monday in Nairobi, Kenya.
The aim of the project is to develop tools to help boost carbon trading in Africa and could become the key to unlocking the multi-billion dollar carbon markets for millions of farmers, foresters and conservationists across the developing world.
The project, known as the "Carbon Benefits Project", seeks to assist local communities execute projects aimed at reducing green house gas emissions, and is a partnership bringing together the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), along with a range of other key partners. The project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF).
Under this partnership, scientists will closely study projects in Western Kenya, Western China, Niger and Nigeria and develop a system for measuring, monitoring and managing carbon in a diverse range of landscapes.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, said: "Farming carbon alongside farming crops is just one of the tantalizing prospects emerging as a result of the world's urgent need to combat climate change."
Echoing similar sentiments,
Dennis Garrity, Director-General of the World Agroforestry Centre, said: "The consortium of partners, from Africa, Asia, and South America, involved in the Carbon Benefits Project is developing a cost-effective and scientifically rigorous system, making use of the latest remote sensing technology and analysis, soil carbon modeling, ground-based measurement, and statistical analysis".
Other partners include the International Soil and Reference Information Centre, the Overseas Development Group of the University of East Anglia, the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, the Asian Development Bank, Centro de Energia Nuclear na Agricultura, the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Michigan State University, the Centre for International Forestry Research, and numerous local farming communities.
Speaking during the launch,
Peter Gilruth, Director, Division of Early Warning Assessment, UNEP said, “There is need to empower local population in sustainable management of the entire ecological infrastructure critical in reducing carbon emissions.”
The measurement and monitoring protocols will be available in 18 months and the modelling and capacity building work will go on up to three years when the project ends. The implementation of these carbon benefits projects should open the door to more environmentally friendly types of agriculture such as agroforestry and conservation farming.
Related LinksUNEP Press ReleaseUN-REDD Programme Fund Global Environment Facility (GEF) World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) Press Release 
