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DRAFT PROJECT DESIGN DOCUMENT FORM

FOR AFFORESTATION AND REFORESTATION PROJECT ACTIVITIES (CDM-AR-PDD)- Version 01

AR WG
First meeting
Annex 1
page 1

CLEAN DEVELOPMENT MECHANISM


PROJECT DESIGN DOCUMENT FORM FOR AFFORESTATION AND REFORESTATION
PROJECT ACTIVITIES (CDM-AR-PDD)

CONTENTS

A. General description of the proposed A/R CDM project activity

B. Application of a baseline methodology

C. Application of a monitoring methodology and plan

D. Estimation the net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks

E. Environmental impacts of the proposed A/R CDM project activity

F. Social impacts of the proposed A/R CDM project activity

G. Stakeholders’ comments

Annexes

Annex 1: Contact information on participants in the proposed A/R CDM project activity

Annex 2: Information regarding public funding

Annex 3: Baseline information

Annex 4: Monitoring plan

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SECTION A. General description of the proposed A/R CDM activity

A.1. Title of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

Bagepalli CDM Afforestation Programme

A.2. Description of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

The aim of the project is for marginal farmers and land-less labourers to take up agro-forestry on
small plots of 2.5 acres each. In the case of the landless, they will do this on government revenue
land handed over to the community by the local government and/or the forest department under
social forestry. In the case of marginal farmers they will do it on their private smallholdings.
The activity is designed to create a long-term secure income for marginal farmers and landless
labourers in villages in the Northern part of Kolar District, Karnataka, and a semi-arid zone in
India. It is also designed to reduce pressure on water resources by introducing perennial endemic
fruit trees that need much less water than annual arable crops.
The Northern part of Kolar District is in the south eastern Dry Zone of South India, and is very
dry, with scant biomass. There are practically no off-farm opportunities in this region, and on-
farm opportunities are non existent. This is due to the complete collapse of the ground water
table, lack of soil cover, and desertification.
The project will sequester 8000 tCO2e per annum and will provide support to 1383 families to
plant 1 ha of orchard each on their own private land holdings or on community plots. The cost
per tonne of CO2e is 12 Euros.
Table : Summary of CERs generated through project
Carbon price calculation Source of data
tC/ha/30 yrs 47.4 CES, CST, IISc
tC/ha/yr 1.6 (F)
tC02/tC 3.7 (F)
tCO2e/ha/yr 5.8 (F)
Total tCO2/yr requ. 8000.0 AR_SSC_
Total ha requ. 1383 (F)
Total CERs. 240000 (F)
EURO/tCO2e 10 Project
Financials

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In the pilot programme for this project it became evident that regular payments for tree planting
are necessary in a project like this, in an area like this. This is because even native trees of local
provenance do not survive unless they are watered and looked after with dedication until they are
mature. After the establishment period families will get an income of between Rs 30’000 to
50’000 per annum depending on the rains and other factors. This is at least 5 times more than
what they get from 2.5 acres at present. In fact generally, participating farmers have in the last
seven years of drought earned nothing at all from their farms. Landless labourers have no work
or income at all. The project is thus a critical intervention in an area where just one meal a day
has become the norm.
The project will be of particular benefit to women because they will have a secure wage type
income in form of payments from the project for a fixed period. Thereafter, they will have
income from sale of fruit, they will have fuel and fodder for cooking and cattle, and in the long
term the water table will rise – this will provide more secure sources of drinking water and water
for domestic and agricultural use. As a committed women’s organisation, WSD will try and
include as many landless families and landless single women in the project as possible, by
working with the government revenue department and the forestry department. The latter will
identify government land in the project villages and these lands will be allocated to landless
project participants.

A.3. Project participant:

Women for Sustainable Development


Kempapura Road
Hebbal
Bangalore 560024
Karnataka
India
Tel +91 (0)80 23637007
www.climateindia.com

A.4. Technical description of the A/R CDM project activity:

Marginal farmer families and landless farm labourers with relatively contiguous private or
community land holdings will develop orchards and plant Eucalyptus spp., Acacia spp.,
Mangifera indica, (Mango) Syzygium cuminii (Jamun) Tamarindus indica (Tamarind),
Azadirachta indica Neem, Ficus spp. (Peepul, Banyan) Tectona grandis (Teak), Grevillea
robusta (Silver Oak), Pterocarpus spp. (Hardwoods) Achras sapota (Sapota), Artocarpus spp.
(Jackfruit), Guava, Terminalia spp., Dalbergia spp., Pongemia Pinnata (Kanniga) and other fast
growing dry land trees for fodder. The choice of species lies with the farmers. Landless coolie
families will also identify suitable species of their choice for the revenue lands and forestry lands
allocated to them, and will plant those species on their lands.

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The main problem with tree planting in this area is lack of water and lack of income to sustain
the trees until they yield. The way to deal with this problem is to have a system of annual
payments on the basis of results until all farmers have established trees. A fair part of the income
will go towards making watering arrangements. Establishment may take up to ten years;
thereafter there will be an income from the fruit, and from the fodder, dry grass and other
additional benefits. Most farmers have expressed a willingness to maintain trees if they are
assured an annual income of Rs 2000 per acre. This is taken into account in the minimum price
of CERs calculated for this project.

Experience from the pilot project has shown that hybrid trees that yield earlier are no good in this
area as they require too much intensive care and constant irrigation. They are also more prone to
disease. It is thus not realistic to introduce early yielding varieties in this project. The present
project will be based entirely on native endemic tree species. These take longer to yield, but are
hardier, and generate more biomass.

CER income will support farmers with annual payments until trees start to yield after 8-10 years.
Technology and know-how support will come from the Karnataka Forest Department, especially
the local range forest officers; and the Centre for Ecological Science and Centre for Sustainable
Technology at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, with regard to the GHG estimates
and monitoring.

A.4.1. Location of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

The project will be located in the Northern part of Kolar District.

Fig : Kolar District

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A.4.1.1. Host Party(ies):

India

A.4.1.2. Region/State/Province etc.:

Karnataka

A.4.1.3. City/Town/Community etc:

The list of villages in Bagepalli taluk:

1. Pedduru
2. Egava Netkuntlapalli
3. Vadigiri
4. Somnathapura
5. Devareddipalli
6. Rascheruvu
7. Honnampalli
8. Jeekavanapalli
9. Paipalya
10. Kallepalli
11. Kamatampalli
12. Shivapura
13. Ramanpaddi
14. Chakvel
15. Palyakere HC
16. Mandyampalli
17. Kothurupalli
18. M.K. Thanda
19. Chinganapalli
20. Devaramakalapalli
21. Nakkalpalli
22. Babenayakanapalli
23. Pichalvarapalli
24. Gollapalli
25. Vandaman
26. Karkor

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27. Guraldina
28. Govenapalli
29. Gollapalli

The list of villages in Gudibanda taluk:

30. Jangalpalli
31. Appiredipalli (Paina)
32. Appiredipalli (Diguva)
33. Bomenhalli
34. Medimakanahalli
35. Varlakonda
36. Irgenahalli
37. Boodinarayanahalli
38. Bagepalli
39. Bathalahalli
40. Boyapalli
41. Chockampalli
42. Geggireddipalli
43. Hamsandra
44. Hirenageli
45. Lakshmisagara
46. Muddalalhalli
47. Muddireddihalli
48. Naravanahalli
49. Nanjareddahalli
50. Narvalapalli
51. Pavajanahalli
52. Ramnathpuram
53. Chinganapalli
54. Somenahalli

The list of villages in Siddalaghatta taluk is:

55. Chikkadasenahalli
56. Varahunasenahalli A
57. Beerappanahalli
58. Hosahalli
59. Busettihalli
60. Ammagarahalli
61. Ammorathimmanahalli
62. Valasenahalli

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63. Kadirinayakanahalli
64. Pindibapanahalli
65. Sadrolapalli
66. Kanappanahalli
67. Saddahalli
68. Peddabandaraghatta
69. Chinnabandaraghatta
70. Haristhala
71. Nemalagurki
72. Kuduvathi

The list of project villages and precise plots and survey numbers will be finalised in due course.

A.4.1.4. Detail of geographical location and project boundary, including


information allowing the unique identification(s) of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

The bearings of the project office at Bagepalli are:


Latitude: 13 deg – 47 N
Longitude: 77 deg – 47 E

The fields and community lands to be afforested are will be given in a list of lands. Each
producer and plot carries its unique identification code.

A.4.1.5. A description of the present environmental conditions of the area,


including a description of climate, hydrology, soils, ecosystems, and the possible presence of rare or
endangered species and their habitats:

The Northern part of Kolar District is basically part of the Rayalaseema semi-arid desert zone. It
is also known as the Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka. Soils are reddish in colour with sandy clay
loam texture and are characterised with low water holding capacity (Max WHC of 26.8 %).
Crops viz. Ragi (millet), legumes, groundnut, and minor millets, suitable for dry lands, are
predominant. Small patches of paddy are also seen with tank irrigation. Recently the social
forestry crops like Eucalyptus, Gliricidia sepium, Leucaena leucocephala have been promoted on
private lands. More recently the value of mixed agro-forestry is being recognised.

Two taluk details are given as examples to illustrate local conditions in Kolar District. They are
Bagepalli and Gauribidanur. .

Bagepalli forest range or administrative block has a geographic area of 90,009 ha. This range has
a net sown area of 33,709 ha and there is significant land area under wastelands.

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Table: Bagepalli taluk details:

Bagepalli
Total geographic area (ha) 90,009
Net sown area (ha) 33,709
Irrigated area (ha) 6,814
Rainfed area (ha) 26,895
Forest area (ha) 18,458
Wasteland (ha) 7,498
Southern tropical dry
Forest type deciduous and thorn
scrub
Dominant Species Anogeissus latifolia,
Terminalia tomentosa,
Chloroxylon swietinia,
Acacia catechu etc.
Major crops Ragi, Jowar,
Groundnut, Mulberry

Gudibanda forest range or administrative block has a geographic area of 21,645 ha. This range
has a net sown area of 14,309 ha and there is significantly less land area under wastelands
compared to Bagepalli.
Table: Gudibanda details:

Gudibanda
Total geographic area (ha) 21,645
Net sown area (ha) 14,309
Irrigated area (ha) 3,690
Rainfed area (ha) 10,619
Forest area (ha) 2,534
Wasteland (ha) 2,270

The major crops cultivated in Northern Kolar District are Eleusine coracana (ragi), Sorghum
bicolor jowar, Arachis hypogea (groundnut) and Morus alba (mulberry). The forest type of the
district according to Champion and Seth (1935) is southern tropical dry deciduous and thorn
scrub. The dominant species include Anogeissus latifolia, Terminalia tomentosa, Chloroxylon
swietinia etc.

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The climate is hot and dry. The maximum temperature is 40oC in summer and 20oC in winter.
The hydrology is marked by complete absence of flowing rivers, and depletion of groundwater.
Fluorosis is a major health problem. The soil is saline, gravelly, lacking in organic matter.

Table: Kolar Biodiversity type

Features
Biographic region Albizzia amara zone
Vegetation type Albizzia amara, Acacia
Geographical Range Kurnool, Anantpur, Bellary,
Bijapur, Chitradurg, Dharwar, Kolar, Bangalore
Important plant species Albizzia amara,
Pterospermum suberifolium,
Phenolobium hexapetalum,
Cissus quadrangularis,
Sapindus emarginatus
Annual Rainfall (mm) 500-1000
No. of dry months 5-9
Mean temp. of coldest months (oC) 20
Altitude (m) <600
Soil type Red ferruginous or ferrilitic
Sandy loam
Potential area under vegetation type 15350
(thousand ha)
Percentage of area under 4.9
Pleisioclimax
Percentage of area remaining under 5.8
all physiognomies
Number of Major patches 42
Major competing land use Crops and mining
Wild relatives of crop plants Anona squamosa,
Dioscoroa

The plant communities growing on the hilly areas of Kolar District are grouped under mixed
xenomorphic thorn forest because the communities are largely dominated by thorny and spiny
species, which include some evergreen non-thorny species as well. The soils of such habitats are
skeletal, yellowish brown to brown, loamy sands. Low hills and rocky areas of in the 150 to 350
mm of rainfall zone are largely dominated by Acacia senegal community which under protection
attains density of 72 plants per ha and 100% frequency. The Anogeissus pendula -Acacia senegal
community occurs in 350-500 mm rainfall zone whereas in 500-700 mm zone Anogeissus

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pendula community is predominant with Acacia catechu as the chief associate. But on higher
elevations, A.pendula combines with Boswellia serrata. The density of 15-35 cm DBH group
ranges from 200 to 500 plants per ha. The chief shrub associates in 150-350 mm rainfall zone are
Commiphora wightii, Ziziphus nummularia, Grewia tenax, Euphorbia caducifolia, Grewia tenax,
Mimosa hamata, and Sericostemma acidum. The associated trees that are short with crooked
boles include Salvadora oleoides and Maytenus emarginatus. The associates of A.senegal
community in the medium(350-500 mm) rainfall zone include Wrightia tinctoria, Moringa
cocanensis, Azadirachta indica, Bauhinia racemosa, Cordia gharaf and Acacia leucophloea . In
the higher rainfall regions (500-700 mm) the associated species are: Securinega leucopyrus,
Dichrostachys cinerea, Grewia villosa, Barlaria prionites, B. acanthoides, Cassia auriculata,
Abutilon indicum and Dipteracanthus patulus. The ground flora in the low rainfall zone is poor
and includes a few species of grasses and forbs such as Cymbopogon jwarancusa, Aristida
funiculata, Eleusine compressa, Eleusine hirtigluma, Tragus biflorus, Oropetium thomaeum,
Melanocenchrus jacquemontii, Enneapogon brachystachys, Indigorera cordifolia, Lepidagathis
trinervis, Blepharis sindica, Tephrosia purpurea and Tridex procumbens. In the higher rainfall
zone (350-700 mm), some more species are added viz., Eremopogon foveolatus Heteropogon
contortus, Brachiaria ramosa, Bothriochloa pertusa, Hackelochloa granularis, Sehima
nervosum, Indigofera tinctoria, Tephrosia petrosa, Boerhavia diffusa, Pupalia lappacea and
Achyranthus aspera.
Eroded rocky surfaces, gravelly plains and pediment plains with shallow soil deposition in
depressional pockets support stunted, multi-stemmed shrubs and trees which are cushion-shaped
pillow-forms due to heavy grazing. Capparis decidua-Ziziphus nummularia is the most
prevalent shrub community on eroded rocky surfaces and piedmont plains. Stray plants of Acacia
senegal and Prosopis cineraria also occur along the deep tunnels. Associated shrubs,
undershrubs, forbs and grasses are: Leptadenia pyrotechnica, Crotalaria burhia, Sericostoma
pauciflorum, Bonamia latifolia, Tribulus terrestris, Orygia decumbens, Cleome papillosa, C.
brachycarpa, Boerhavia elegans, B. diffusa, Mollugo cerviana, Indigofera cordifolia,
Dactyloctenium sindicum, Oropetium thomaeum, Elusine compressa, Eragrostis sp., Aristida
hirtigluma. (From, Biodiversity in Arid And Semi Arid Areas,Suresh Kumar, Central Arid Zone
Research Institute, Jodhpur).

There are a number of species of animals and plants in Kolar District that have been lost over the
years. These include Pangolin, wild boar, deer, as well as many diverse species of birds,
butterflies, snakes and insects. Mixed species afforestation will provide habitats for many diverse
animals and plants once the lands are no longer crop lands. An inventory is presently being done
with Bagepalli College, and the students will monitor species loss and or gain over the project
period. (See section on biodiversity below).

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A.4.2. Species and varieties selected:

Eucalyptus spp., Acacia spp., Pongemia Pinnata (Kanniga) Mangifera indica, (Mango)
Syzygium cuminii (Jamun) Tamarindus indica (Tamarind), Azadirachta indica Neem, Ficus spp.
(Peepul, Banyan) Tectona grandis (Teak), Grevillea robusta (Silver Oak), Pterocarpus spp.
(Hardwoods) Achras sapota (Sapota), Artocarpus spp. (Jackfruit), Guava, Terminalia spp.,
Dalbergia spp.

A.4.3. Specification of the greenhouse gases (GHG) whose emissions will be part of the
proposed A/R CDM project activity:

Carbon dioxide

A.4.4. Carbon pools selected:

Once the project boundary was defined, the potential project activities as well as the area to be
brought under the project activities was decided through group discussions with village
communities as well as the Forest Department. Then, the C-pools to be estimated were defined.
Reporting of changes in the stocks of five C-pools: Above Ground Biomass (AGB), Below
Ground Biomass (BGB), litter, dead wood and Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) is desirable. In the
study on which this PDD is based, resource and time limitation led to selection of three dominant
C-pools for field based measurements. The selection was based on; those C-pools, which are
most likely to be impacted, leading to increase or decrease in C-stocks i.e. AGB, SOC and
woody litter. Based on estimates for above ground biomass and using default conversion factors
or ratios for below ground biomass (or roots) was estimated. So, in all, four carbon pools were
included for this PDD.

A.4.5. Compliance with the definition for afforestation or reforestation:

Afforestation:
“Afforestation” is the direct human-induced conversion of land that has not been forested for a
period of at least 50 years to forested land through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced
promotion of natural seed sources.

Reforestation:
“Reforestation” is the direct human-induced conversion of non-forested land to forested land
through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources, on land
that was forested but that has been converted to non-forested land. For the first commitment
period, reforestation activities will be limited to reforestation occurring on those lands that did
not contain forest on 31 December 1989.

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A certificate is provided by the local range forest officers confirming that all the private and
public lands in this scheme have either not been forested for 50 years, or have not been forested
since 31st December 1989, i.e. that none of the lands had any forest on them according to the
following definition:
- A single minimum tree crown cover value between 10 and 30 per cent; and
- A single minimum land area value between 0.05 and 1 hectare; and
- A single minimum tree height value between 2 and 5 metres.

A.4.6. A description of legal title to the land, current land tenure and land use and rights of
access to the sequestered carbon:

Community grazing land and degraded forestlands are the two land categories considered for
A&R under community forestry option. Of these the degraded forestland is under the control of
the Forest Department while the community grazing land, although under the jurisdiction of
revenue department entails the communities to access and utilize this land for their grazing and
fuel wood requirements. Also the social forestry division of the Forest Department raises
plantations on these lands. The cropland being considered for farm forestry option in Bagepalli
and Gudibanda taluk belongs to farmers i.e. private ownership. Thus, local communities have a
stake and therefore right of access to biomass and sequestered carbon in all categories of land
considered for A&R along with the Forest/Revenue Department in case of A&R on community
grazing land and degraded forestlands, and the farmers in case of afforestation on croplands.

The farmers have legal title deeds to their lands with survey numbers. Copies of panis (entry
copy from the land registry) are available from the tahsildars – the local government
representative at the taluk level who is also the local land registrar. Revenue land and forest land
is listed with the tahsildar and with the range forest officer. Copies of these panis are also
provided by the Tahsildar. Rights to use the forest land are given by the social forestry officer,
and entries in forest department land registry with details of time period for which the land use is
granted, and the lease amount if any, that was paid, is registered with the tahsildar. A copy of
the deed is given to the landless farmer or group of farmers or landless families who receive the
right to occupy the community and forestry land.

The rights to the sequestered carbon are either with the private farmer, in the case of planting on
private lands, and can be ascertain from the pani copy, or with farmer group, in the case of
revenue land or forest department land and can also be ascertain from the pani copy. The carbon
is usufruct, and the forest department transfers the right to the usufruct to the farmers in a deed of
transfer, stating the period and other contractual details.

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A.4.7. Type(s) of A/R CDM project activity:

This is a “Small-scale afforestation and reforestation project activities under the CDM”. It is
expected to result in net anthropogenic greenhouse gas removals by sinks of less than 8
kilotonnes of CO2 per year. It is developed or implemented by low-income communities and
individuals. The type of activity can be categorized as Community forestry and farm forestry.
The two options of community and farm forestry differ only in the legal status of the lands –
community forestry being done on community land, and farm forestry on private lands. The
technology employed on both types of lands is identical. On both lands, block fruit orchards are
planned with mixed native species of: Eucalyptus spp., Acacia spp., Azadirachta indica Neem,
Pongemia Pinnata (Kanniga) Mangifera indica, (Mango) Syzygium cuminii (Jamun) Tamarindus
indica (Tamarind), Ficus spp. (Peepul, Banyan) Tectona grandis (Teak), Grevillea robusta
(Silver Oak), Pterocarpus spp. (Hardwoods) Achras sapota (Sapota), Artocarpus spp.
(Jackfruit), Guava, Terminalia spp., Dalbergia spp.

A.4.8. Technology to be employed by the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

The activities and technology proposed for implementation under the project scenario is given in
the table below. Community forestry and farm forestry involves fruit and oil seed bearing tree
orchards of Neem, Pongemia, Mango, Tamarind, Ficus, Syzygium cuminii etc. The choice of
species for bund planting includes long rotation trees of economic value such as teak, Grevillea,
Pterocarpus etc. Thus, the main criteria adopted by the community and the farmers include rate
of growth and economic returns. The technology and the incremental carbon on both types of
lands are the same, as the community land selected was fallow, with no incremental baseline
carbon, and thus identical to the farm land.
Table: Project activities
Option Land category Project Features
proposed activities
Community Community Fruit orchard Fruit and oil seed bearing tree orchards in
forestry grazing land and block planting, of Neem, Pongemia,
Degraded forest Mango, Tamarind, Ficus, Syzygium
land cuminii etc., and bund planting included
long rotation trees of economic value
such as teak, Grevillea, Pterocarpus etc.
Farm Forestry Cropland block Fruit orchard As above
planting

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A.4.9. Approach for addressing non-permanence:

The designing of the project when done in consultation with the communities or stakeholders
will not pose the problem of permanence. This is because, the initial consultation process will
ensure that community choice of species as well as area is implemented and communities are
also aware of the project. Further, agro-forestry trees, fruit orchards etc. are not harvested
traditionally also. Temporary carbon credits can also address the issue of permanence.
The main threat in this project is loss of trees due to drought. The project has a buffer of Carbon
stock. In the project 2000 ha are registered. Only 1383 ha of carbon sequestration are committed.
617 ha are buffer plots. In case fields succumb to drought, and replacement planting is deemed to
be unpromising, the drought affected plots are replaced with plots from the buffer zone.
Financing for the buffer zone is organised by charging 10% of CER revenues from the
participating farmers into a “permanence fund”.

A.4.10. Duration of the proposed A/R CDM project activity / Crediting period:

The chosen crediting period is 30 years, as per Decision -/CP.9 of the CoP, Modalities and
procedures for afforestation and reforestation project activities under the clean development
mechanism in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, Annex G Validation and
Registration, para. 23.(b): A maximum of 30 years.

A.4.10.1. Starting date of the proposed A/R CDM project activity and of the (first)
crediting period, including a justification:

The starting date of the project and the first crediting period shall begin at the start of the
afforestation or reforestation project activity under the CDM, which is 1st September 2004.

A.4.10.2. Expected operational lifetime of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

30 years

A.4.10.3. Choice of crediting period and related information:

The chosen crediting period is 30 years, as per Decision -/CP.9 of the CoP, Modalities and
procedures for afforestation and reforestation project activities under the clean development
mechanism in the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, Annex G Validation and
Registration, para. 23.(b): “A maximum of 30 years.”

A.4.10.3.1. Renewable crediting period, if selected:

Not applicable

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A.4.10.3.1.1. Starting date of the first crediting period:

1st September 2004

A.4.10.3.1.2. Length of the first crediting period:

To be determined

A.4.10.3.2 Fixed crediting period, if selected:

30 years

A.4.10.3.2 .1. Starting date:

1st September 2004

A.4.10.3.2.2. Length:

30 years.

A.4.11. Brief explanation of how the net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks are
achieved by the proposed A/R CDM project activity, including why these would not occur in the
absence of the proposed A/R CDM project activity, taking into account national and/or sectoral
policies and circumstances:

Forests provide several goods and services that are crucial to human survival. They are one of
the world’s major carbon stores, containing about 80% of aboveground terrestrial biospheric
carbon and 40% of terrestrial belowground carbon (Krischbaum et al., 1996). Forests play an
important role in the global carbon cycle, with estimated carbon stocks in forests being about 990
GtC, comparable to 750 GtC in the atmosphere. Land use change and changed growth patterns in
response to environmental changes cause fluctuations in the carbon stocks in forests,
significantly affecting atmospheric CO2 concentrations (Schimel et al., 1996).

Forests however could be managed to maximize carbon stocks by preserving the forest cover,
especially those with high standing biomass and also by establishing forests in non-forested areas
(Brown et al., 1996). Thus, the carbon pools and fluxes are significant components of the global
carbon cycle.

The forestry sector is unique, in that it contributes significantly to global CO2 emissions and also
provides significant opportunities to not only reduce the current or projected emissions but also
to remove CO2 accumulated from past emissions in the atmosphere, and sequester it in soil,
vegetation and wood products. The forest sector, particularly tropical deforestation, contributed
1.6±1 GtC emissions annually during 1990s. In the global effort to stabilize CO2 concentration in

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the atmosphere, forest sector is expected to play a critical role. Several attempts have been made
to estimate the mitigation potential in developing countries and the potential is shown to be large
(Sathaye and Ravindranath, 1998). An earlier study for India by Ravindranath and Somashekar
(1995) showed the mitigation potential to be in the range of 23 to 175 MtC. According to another
study by Ravindranath et al. (2001), under the sustainable forestry scenario, an additional carbon
stock of 237 MtC could be sequestered and in the commercial forestry scenario, after meeting the
incremental biomass demands, an additional carbon stock of 78 MtC would be sequestered for a
12-year period.

The mitigation opportunities in the forest sector are a subject of deep controversy due to
uncertainties, risks, potential for reversibility of carbon sequestered and leakage, potential for
damage to biodiversity and livelihoods, and perverse use of forestry sector for mitigation, such as
clearing of forests and raising plantations to obtain carbon credits. The mitigation potential of
forestry sector depends on several factors, such as forest type, soil quality, rainfall, species
choice (slow growing species such as Teak or fast growing species such as Eucalyptus),
silvicultural practices (soil preparation, fertilizer application), and harvesting and processing
technology. The methods and accounting procedures for forestry mitigation projects have been
debated in literature (Watson et al., 2000 and Mc Dicken,). Thus, there is a need to engage in
first climate change mitigation opportunities in forest sector in India in order also to lay to rest
some major methodological issues in formulating forestry projects and also the cost-
effectiveness, additionality, permanence, leakage, measurement and verifiability.

The main goal of forestry sector in India is to meet the current and projected biomass demands
sustainably, and conserve the existing natural forest for conservation of biodiversity and
watershed protection. At the same time in India, there is an effective Forest Conservation Act,
1980, which bans conversion of forestland to non-forest uses and further, there is a ban on
logging in reserve forests (Ravindranath and Hall, 1994). Thus, the only option for meeting
India’s biomass demands is through afforestation and reforestation (A&R) on degraded forest
and non-forest lands coupled with farm forestry.

Past and Current Land Use Pattern

Bagepalli forest range or administrative block with a geographic area of 90,009 ha was selected
for exploring the potential for community forestry. This range has 7,498 ha under wastelands
(Table 1). Gauribidanur range with a geographic area of 86,727 ha was selected for exploring
the potential for farm forestry option in Kolar district. Rainfed area and crops dominate the
agricultural sector in the district. The forest type of the district according to Champion and Seth
(1935) is southern tropical dry deciduous and thorn scrub. The dominant species include
Anogeissus latifolia, Terminalia tomentosa, Chloroxylon swietinia, etc.
In Bagepalli, the area under wasteland and forests has remained constant over the period 1988-89
to 2001-02. The same is true of Gauribidanur also. However, the net sown area has decreased in
both the taluks for the same period (Table 1).

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Table: Current and past land use pattern in Bagepalli and Gauribidanur taluks
for the period 1988-89 to 2001-02
1999- 2000- 2001-
Area (ha) 1988-89 1994-95 1997-98 00 01 02
Bagepalli
Total geographic area 90009 90009 90009 90009 90009 90009
Net sown area 37529 31462 33675 30733 30971 32531
Irrigated area 5918 5040 5178 2967 2697 6814
Rainfed area 31611 26422 28497 27766 28274 25717
Forest area 18458 18458 18458 18458 18458 18458
Wasteland 7498 7498 7498 7498 7498 7498
Gauribidanur
Total geographic area 86727 86727 86727 86727 86727 86727
Net sown area 47015 42079 42714 45999 43927 40378
Irrigated area 13823 17287 14192 11697 11697 11418
Rainfed area 33192 24792 28522 34302 32230 28960
Forest area 4332 4332 4332 4332 4332 4332
Wasteland 7375 7375 7375 7375 7375 7375

Afforestation and Reforestation Rates – Past and Projected

The total area under different land categories that provide opportunity for afforestation or
reforestation activity is the technical potential, which is not the actually area available for the
proposed activities. This could be due to tenurial, institutional or policy barriers. Further, it is
necessary to take into consideration the projected rates of A&R while projecting the “business as
usual” baseline scenario. The feasible area available and the technical potential for community
forestry project activities in Bagepalli range was estimated based on secondary data regarding
the past, current and likely future land use and afforestation rates in the region. Forest
Department records, particularly the working plan of the division was consulted to get details
regarding the past, current and proposed area for A&R. As can be seen from Table 2, the rate of
afforestation was about 480 ha/year during the period 1995-2003. As per the working plan, it is
proposed that about 400 ha per year will be afforested during the next decade. That still leaves
about 5000 ha of degraded forestland to be afforested, even during 2012. In addition to degraded
forestland, community grazing land is available for afforestation. The technical potential for
implementation of farm forestry activities in Gauribidanur is similarly estimated considering the
past rates of farm forestry activities. The area afforested on farms in the past 10 years was
estimated through household survey using the questionnaire method. Records of seedlings
distributed for promotion of farm forestry on private farms as well as community grazing land
was obtained from the Forest Department, which was converted to area (at 11 seedlings/ha),
based on field studies.

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Table: Rate of afforestation – past and projected on degraded forestland (ha) in Bagepalli
Area afforested in
Forest Department Surplus degraded
Years land land available after
afforestation
Total Mean/year
1995-2000 2492 498 9180
2001-2003 923 461 8257
2004-2008 1615 403 6642
2009-2012 1292 430 5350

The average area brought under farm forestry per annum in the district over the period 1998 to
2003 is about 3400 ha. However, over 25,000 ha are yet to be covered and available for farm
forestry in the region. Further, the interest of the farmers in the region in promoting farm forestry
is evident from the increase in area brought under farm forestry.

Table : Farm forestry in Gauribidanur


Area brought under Surplus land available
Years farm forestry (ha) after afforestation (ha)
1998-1999 1592 37771
1999-2000 3133 34638
2000-2001 3690 30948
2001-2002 2959 27989

The surveys showed that at least 5380 ha of agricultural land are available for the farm forestry
options in Gauribidanur taluk, and 8625 ha for the community forestry in Bagepalli taluk. If for
the sake of argument we assume that half of the project area (of a total of 1383 ha) is
implemented in Gauribidanur, and half in Bagepalli, that would mean that 12.8% of available
land would be covered in Gauribidanur, and 8% of available land in Bagepalli. The total area of
1383 ha under this project is three times as much as the area afforested by the Forest Department
in Bagepalli taluk in any one year in the past and projected periods of 1995 to 2012, and about
half of the area that could possibly be expected to be brought under farm forestry in
Gauribidanur taluk in one year.
It can thus be concluded that at the local level there are currently some, but not necessarily
enough incentives to get social forestry going at a desirable rate. Joint Forest Management has
serious problems and is also not creating forested areas at the desirable rate. Much of the social
forestry taken up by the forest department is not well maintained. CER income is thus an
essential intervention for providing incentives for farmers to take up farm forestry on degraded
farm land, and for local people to take up reforestation and afforestation on community land and
degraded forest land for their own benefit.

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A.4.11.1. Estimated amount of net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks over the
chosen crediting period:

The carbon stock change per ha for the various project activities under baseline and mitigation
scenario for a period of 30 years at every 5 years interval is given in the table below. The carbon
increment under baseline for the fruit farm project scenario is absent under both the community
and farm forestry as there was negligible accumulation of woody biomass on the chosen fallow
lands. The mitigation potential per ha for the period 2005-2035 for the chosen mitigation option
is 47.42 tC for fruit orchards on farms and the chosen community land, where the trees are not
harvested.

Table: Carbon stock change under baseline and mitigation scenario (excluding harvested wood
products) and the carbon increment per ha for the project activities for 2005-35 (tC/ha)

Options 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035


COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND FARM FORESTRY
Fruit Orchard (Block)
Baseline 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27
Mitigation 37.29 47.53 55.39 62.38 69.72 76.70 83.69
Incremental 1.02 11.26 19.12 26.11 33.45 40.43 47.42

The mitigation potential from fruit orchard (mango) under the community and farm forestry
options is 47.42 tC/ha for the 30 year project period. This is the technology selected for all
participating farmers both for community forestry on community land and farm forestry on farm
land. No harvest regime is adopted. Overall the mitigation potential of the project for
community forestry and farm forestry using farm forestry block fruit farm option from an area of
1383 ha is 65582 tC at a rate of 47.42 tC/ha for the period 2005-2035, which is approximately
1.58 tC/ha/yr.

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Fig : Chart Incremental Carbon 2005 - 2035

Incremental Carbon in tC
70000
60000
50000
40000
tC

Incremental
30000 Carbon
20000
10000
0
05

10

15

20

25

30

35
20

20

20

20

20

20

20
Year

In Carbon dioxide terms: tCO2: The overall mitigation potential in Kolar District under this
project for the total area of 1383 ha under the chosen mitigation options is 240’000 tCO2 at a
rate of 173.56 tC02/ha for the period 2005-2035, which is approximately 5.79 tC02/ha/yr.

Fig 3: Incremental tCO2 2005 to 2035

Incremental tonnes CO2


tonnes CO2

250000
200000
150000 Incremental
100000 Tonnes C02
50000
0
05

10

15

20

25

30

35
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

Years

A.4.12. Public funding of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

(If this is a unilateral CDM project, then this section is not applicable until a buyer is found).
Or (Statement by relevant Annex 1 government).

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SECTION B. Application of a baseline methodology

B.1. Title and reference of the approved baseline methodology applied to the proposed A/R CDM
project activity:

No approved baseline methodology is available from the EB yet. Referring to FCCC/TP/2004/2


of 28 May 2004, “Simplified modalities and procedures for small-scale afforestation and
reforestation project activities under the clean development mechanism, Technical paper”,
FCCC/TP/2004/2, Page 25, Appendix B, an indicative simplified baseline and monitoring
methodology for the select type of small-scale afforestation and reforestation project activity
under the clean development mechanism is chosen [ The full attachment A to appendix B,
referred to in paragraph 73 of the simplified modalities and procedures for small-scale
afforestation and reforestation project activities, shall be developed by the Executive Board of
the CDM.]

Table: Simplified Baseline Methodology

Elements Type Simplified Baseline Methodology


Project boundary N/A Allow exclusion of some carbon pools.
Dynamic boundaries to allow for buffer.
Baseline net Cropland Method of estimating:
greenhouse gas the most likely prospective land use at the
removals by sinks time the project starts, which may include
for example, agriculture (pasture or
crops), natural regeneration, forestry,
where the current land use i.e.
community-grazing lands for community
forestry and farmlands for farm forestry
is assumed to maintain status quo.
Actual net Agroforestry (open) The carbon pools estimated include;
greenhouse gas above ground biomass, below ground
removals by sinks biomass, woody litter and soil organic
carbon. The method adopted for
estimating the different carbon pools is
similar to that adopted for development of
a baseline scenario
Leakage Small No need to estimate
Net anthropogenic greenhouse gas Project scenario minus baseline scenario
removals by sinks

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B.1.1. Justification of the choice of the methodology and its applicability to the proposed
A/R CDM project activity:

Project boundary: exclusion of some carbon pools is explained in more detail in the baseline
section below (see section B2 below). Dynamic boundaries to allow for buffer are chosen
because the buffer approach has been tried in the pilot project and found to be the best way to
deal with certain unavoidable looses due to drought and local calamity.

Baseline net greenhouse gas removal by sinks: The Land-use or change over the past is used to
project future land use changes. Establishing baseline scenario requires knowledge of historical
series of conventional practices in the project area, the local socio-economic situation, economic
trends that may affect the carbon benefits of a project, and other policy relevant parameters
(IPCC, 2000). Determining the land-use/land-cover change is critical to accurately award carbon
credits. Sound methods are necessary in order to state within a level of confidence how well
land-use/land-cover change is predicted. In Kolar, updated revenue records were not available to
analyse the current land use. In many of the villages, the revenue records did not tally with
ground reality, as the data was not updated. Participatory rural appraisal was found to provide
reliable information with regard to past and current land use/land use change. Field visits give
precise information with regard to land availability for mitigation options. Cross-sectional field
studies yield reliable information during baseline development and the cost of such studies is not
very high.

According to the Milan Accord, three options to a baseline methodology for a project activity has
been suggested which are “(a) the natural emissions and removals that would otherwise occur; or
(b) the net greenhouse gas removals by sinks due to use of the land that represents an
economically attractive course of action, taking into account barriers to investment or other
barriers or (c) the most likely prospective land use at the time the project starts, which may
include for example, agriculture (pasture or crops), natural regeneration, forestry.” For the
current study, option (c) has been chosen, where the current land use i.e. community-grazing
lands for community forestry and farmlands for farm forestry is assumed to maintain status quo.

Actual net greenhouse gas removals by sinks: The method adopted is similar as that adopted for
development of a baseline scenario. For the baseline, the carbon pool that needs to be considered
according to the Milan Accord are aboveground biomass, belowground biomass, litter, dead
wood, and soil organic carbon. The PRO-COMAP considers only two pools, i.e. the soil organic
carbon and the above ground biomass. But for the current study, the below ground biomass
(default value of 26% of the above ground biomass) and litter that is collected as fuel wood by
the community has also been incorporated.

The uncertainty under baseline scenario is with regard to increment in biomass pool. The soil
organic carbon would have reached an equilibrium state as the land use pattern has remained the

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same over several years. In the absence of timeline data for biomass changes, an increment of
0.01 tC/ha/yr has been assumed, considering the biomass being removed as fuel wood by the
community, which was obtained through field studies.

Leakage: The leakage is estimated to be equal to the current rates of extraction of fuel
wood/small timber under baseline from the land proposed for the project. Thus, in community
forestry projects extending over an area of about 8500 ha, the annual extraction or loss of
biomass per ha is about 10 kg/annum. This is about 0.025% of the total mean annual carbon
stock change during project implementation (Table 12). For farm forestry: A sample survey of
farmers already promoting farm forestry was conducted so as to estimate leakage in farm forestry
projects. Here too the leakage is assumed to be equal to the current rates of extraction of wood
from farms proposed for project under baseline. However, the survey indicates that there is
insignificant extraction of biomass from the block plantations in the project scenario survey.
Therefore this is a case of zero leakage. (See also section C.4 below).

Net anthropogenic removal by sinks: Project scenario minus baseline scenario. This is justified
as there are no project emissions.

B.2. Description of how the methodology is applied to the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

For this project the following approach was used:


Baseline is time projection of the carbon stocks in the project area in the absence of proposed
project activities. To estimate carbon benefits due to implementation of a project, it is necessary
to assess carbon stock change that would have occurred in the proposed project area, if project
activities were not implemented. In the absence of a project, the carbon stocks of different pools
could have increased or decreased under different land use systems. Under the Climate
Convention, “the baseline for project activity is the scenario that reasonably represents
anthropogenic emissions by sources of GHGs and removal by sinks that would occur in the
absence of the proposed project activity”.
The following steps were adopted to project baseline carbon stocks in the land categories
proposed for project for a selected period. The approach for projecting baseline scenario carbon
stocks is presented below.
• Define land use systems and their tenurial status
• Define the project boundary and prepare a map
• Select carbon pools and define methods for measurement
• Develop sampling design and strategy for biomass and soil carbon estimation
• Lay plots in different land use systems and measure identified parameters
• Analyze data for above ground biomass (AGB) carbon stock, below ground biomass and
soil carbon
• Project land use change based on past data
• Assess past and current A&R rates

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The methods for estimating carbon density vary for the different pools to be accounted for in a
project area. Methods also vary for baseline and mitigation scenario development. The methods
adopted in this study for estimating the different carbon pools namely, above ground biomass,
below ground biomass and soil carbon in the baseline are given below.
The baseline for a project activity is the scenario that reasonably represents anthropogenic
emissions by sources of GHGs and removal by sinks that would occur in the absence of the
proposed project activity. The first step in determining a project’s additional GHG benefits
(additionality) is therefore development of a ‘without- project’ baseline scenario against which
changes in carbon stocks occurring in a project area over different time periods say 5, 10 and 20
years can be compared.
Above ground biomass: The estimation of above ground biomass is critical for assessing growth
rates under baseline. The most commonly used method for estimating aboveground biomass is
the plot method. In this study, quadrats (plots) were laid and all trees >1.5 m in height or >5 cm
DBH (Diameter at Breast Height) were enumerated. Once the tree plots were laid, smaller plots
were demarcated within the larger plot to enumerate shrubs and regenerating seedlings. In the
same plots fallen woody litter was collected and the fresh weight of the same estimated. The
parameters monitored include; the species name, height and DBH (130 cm above ground) of
each tree or sapling or shrub.
The selection of plots for sampling and measurement under baseline as was done using the
stratified random sampling procedure in order to ensure that each and every section of the
population had the same chance of being included in the process, avoiding bias. A quadrat size of
50 X 50 m was adopted for sampling in community grazing land and degraded forestland,
considered as potential land categories for implementing community forestry option (Table 2).
Four replicates were laid in both land categories, covering a total area of one ha. On farmlands
wherein implementation of farm forestry option is proposed, sampling involved enumeration of
all trees on individual farms i.e., whole farms were sampled (Table 2). In total, 10 such farms
were sampled.
Table: Sampling for baseline scenario carbon inventory

No. of
Land category Size of plot (m) Area sampled (sq. m)
replicates
Community grazing land 50 X 50 4 10000
Degraded forest 50 X 50 4 10000
Farm land Whole farms 10 -

The field data was compiled and basal area estimated using DBH and height data. Species-
specific or generic volume equations from FSI reports (1996) were used to convert basal area
into volume (m3/ha). The volume estimates of biomass were converted to tons/ha using the
density values and above ground biomass is presented in terms of dry tons/ha. The above ground
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biomass was then converted to tons of carbon/ha, using a value of 0.45 of biomass as carbon
content, as per the IPCC 1996 Guideline.
Below ground biomass: A default conversion factor of 0.26 was used to convert above ground
biomass to below ground biomass (IPCC, 2003).
Soil carbon: It is well known that highest concentration of soil carbon is in the upper layer,
particularly the top 30 cm depth. There is however considerable uncertainty in the literature on
soil carbon content and the factors that affect it. Estimation of soil organic carbon density
involved collection of soil samples at a depth of 30 cm and estimation of bulk density, and
subsequently estimating soil organic carbon content in the laboratory using the Walkley Black
method. Multiple soil samples collected in a particular vegetation type were combined to give a
composite sample. Soil samples were also collected from scrub, blanks and crop field,
representing baseline scenario.
Woody litter: The dry weight of the woody litter collected in the shrub quadrats were estimated
on per ha basis.

B.3. Description of how the actual net GHG removals by sinks are increased above those that
would have occurred in the absence of the registered A/R CDM project activity:

Determination of the physical and conceptual project boundary is the first step in designing a
project. It geographically delineates the afforestation and/or reforestation project activity under
the control of the project participants. The project boundary consists of both temporal and
geographic domain within which GHG emissions and other attributes of a project are to be
estimated and monitored. The “project boundary” geographically delineates the afforestation or
reforestation project activity under the control of the project participants and the project activity
may contain more than one discrete area of land.

Defining project boundary is critical for estimating carbon stock changes due to project activity
and is critical for estimating project costs and benefits, including global environmental (carbon)
benefits and leakage estimation, if resulting from project implementation.
Methodology for estimating carbon benefits: Project level LUCF projects are easier to quantify
and monitor compared to say national inventories because of clearly defined project activities
and boundaries, stratification of the project area and the choice of the carbon pools to be
measured. Techniques and methods of sampling design and measuring carbon pools are available
which are based on commonly accepted principles of forest inventory, soil sampling and
ecological surveys (Hamburg, 2000). Standard ecological methods have been used to estimate
the various carbon pools of above ground biomass, litter and soil organic carbon, which have
been well established and implemented worldwide in forest inventory.

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The plots for monitoring C-pools could be located within the project boundary and in few cases,
outside the project boundary, as “control plots” for baseline scenario C-stock monitoring and
leakage estimation.
In this project the plots being considered for community and farm forestry options, each with
their unique identification code, is the project boundary. The total area in this project in Kolar
District is 1,383 ha covering around 60 villages. Of this about one third is on community land,
and two thirds on farm land.
The changes in carbon stock under the project scenario due to project implementation need to be
estimated. To estimate the potential rates of carbon uptake and changes in carbon stocks for the
selected project activities, the following approach was adopted.
• Select sites where the identified project activities (fruit orchards of mango, tamarind etc.)
have been planted under different programmes in the same range (or administrative
block) and which are of different age (such as 5, 10, 20 years) groups
• Laying plots (quadrats) for measuring trees to estimate height, DBH, density etc and for
soil sampling
• Estimating rate of growth of AGB and soil carbon.

Source of data for carbon stocks and growth rates: There is very little literature available with
regard to growth rates of different species as well as carbon stocks under different land use
systems. The forest inventory reports and working plans of the Forest Department have no data
pertaining to soil carbon and growth rates of species from agro-forestry systems. Information on
above ground biomass of plantation species is available to a limited extent in these reports.
Therefore, for the study used in this project, field measurement of above ground and below
ground biomass, woody litter and soil carbon was done in areas with similar projects and
supporting species being proposed in this project.

Carbon pools: The carbon pools estimated include; above ground biomass, below ground
biomass, woody litter and soil organic carbon. The method adopted for estimating the different
carbon pools is similar to that adopted for development of a baseline scenario (see above).

Sampling strategy: The selection of plots for sampling and measurement within a vegetation
category under project scenario was also done using the stratified random sampling procedure.
Community forestry: The plantation species that were selected for the study so as to estimate
growth rates represented the community choice. The species chosen for field studies relevant for
this project were Tamarindus indica and Mangifera indica, both long duration fruit trees
involving no harvest. (See Block plantation notes below – the chosen planting technology for
community forestry).
Farm forestry: Vegetation sampling for this option included sampling on two agro-forestry
systems; bunds and block plantations so as to estimate the growth potential. Although some of
the species opted for block plantations were same as that opted for community forestry option,

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sampling was done on farms to explore the potential under this private management system
wherein the investment and care accorded is more than that of publicly owned management
systems.

i) Block plantations: The plantation species that were selected for the study represented the
choice of farmers during household surveys conducted. The species included in sampling were
Tamarindus indica and Mangifera indica, both long-rotation no harvest fruit trees.

Table 9: Project scenario sampling details for community and farm forestry

Size of the
Project Number of
Species quadrat
activity replicates
(m)
Tamarindus indica
Fruit orchard 50 X 50 4
Mangifera indica
Miscellaneous fruit Whole -
Fruit orchard
trees farm

Vegetation sampling: For community forestry and block plantations under farm forestry,
replicates of quadrats measuring 50 X 50 m in fruit orchards and 25 X 25 m in short-rotation
plantations were laid (Table 7). In each of the tree quadrats, four 10 X 10 m shrub quadrats were
laid to enumerate the regenerating seedlings and shrubs as well as to quantify the woody litter
present. The woody litter present in each of the quadrats was collected and air dry weight
estimated. Soil samples were collected from these quadrats by digging pits of 30 cm depth. All
the plots were marked using the Global Positioning System.

Biomass estimation and carbon stock calculation procedure: The procedure adopted for
estimating biomass – both above and below ground, woody litter and soil carbon was similar to
that adopted under baseline, as described for baseline scenario.

CARBON STOCK PROJECTIONS UNDER PROJECT SCENARIO

A model - Comprehensive Mitigation Analysis Process for Project Activities (PROCOMAP) was
used to assess the mitigation potential for the various afforestation options under community
forestry and farm forestry and also its cost-effectiveness.

The PRO-COMAP model is the modified version of COMAP, which is a set of versatile models
with the ability to analyze the mitigation potential as well as cost-effectiveness of mitigation
activities that include:
• Afforestation/reforestation through short rotation that allows logging and harvesting –
This includes plantations such as Eucalyptus, Acacia, Casuarina, etc. with a rotation cycle of
less than 20 years.

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• Afforestation/reforestation through long rotation that allows logging and harvesting –


Includes plantations with a rotation cycle greater than 20 years that could include species
such as Teak, Terminalia, Dalbergia etc.
• Natural regeneration with no logging that could include gap plantings or regeneration of
existing rootstocks with protection measures, but without harvesting or logging practices.

Estimation of Stocks of Different Carbon Pools

The model estimates the change is C-stock annually under the baseline and mitigation scenario.
Adopting the C-stock change method to estimate the C-pool increment, mathematically, the
change in carbon stocks attributable to a project (∆Cnet) at any given time can be expressed as:
Where, ∆Cproject and ∆Cbaseline are the measured changes in carbon stocks at periodic monitoring
n
∆Cnet = ∑
i =1
[(∆Cproject – ∆Cbaseline)time 1 +(∆Cproject – ∆Cbaseline)time 2 +……. (∆Cproject –

∆Cbaseline)time n]

time over the period i, associated with the project and the respective baseline case.

Carbon Data Used for Analysis


Input data for the PROCOMAP model to assess mitigation potential is given in Table 8. The data
is based on field measurement of above ground biomass growth rates, soil organic carbon uptake
under project activity and litter decomposition rates. A default value of a ratio of 0.26 to the
above ground biomass growth rates was considered for the below ground biomass growth rate as
given in the Good Practice Guidance for LUCF sector (IPCC, 2003).

Table : Input data for PRO-COMAP model to assess the mitigation potential

Above Below Soil organic Rotation Life of


Activity ground ground carbon period harvested Litter
biomass biomass uptake (years) product decomposition
growth (t/ha/yr)* (tC/ha/yr)** (years)*** t/ha/yr
rate
(t/ha/yr)
COMMUNITY FORESTRY (Block Planting Fruit Orchards) and
FARM FORESTRY (Block Planting Fruit Orchards)
Fruit orchard 2.5 0.65 0.58 - - 0.25
* - Below ground biomass is considered as 26% of the above ground biomass based on Good Practice Guidance for LUCF sector
(IPCC, 2003)
** - Accumulation period is considered as 7 years after planting.

The carbon stock change per ha for the project activities under baseline and mitigation scenario
for a period of 30 years at every 5 years interval is given in the table below. The carbon

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increment under baseline for the fruit farm project scenario is absent under both the community
and farm forestry as there was negligible accumulation of woody biomass on the chosen fallow
lands.

Table : Carbon stock change under baseline and mitigation scenario (excluding harvested wood
products) and the carbon increment per ha for the project activities for 2005-35 (tC/ha)

Options 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035


COMMUNITY FORESTRY AND FARM FORESTRY
Fruit Orchard (Block)
Baseline 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27 36.27
Mitigation 37.29 47.53 55.39 62.38 69.72 76.70 83.69
Incremental 1.02 11.26 19.12 26.11 33.45 40.43 47.42

The mitigation potential per ha for the period 2005-2035 for the chosen mitigation option is
47.42 tC for fruit orchards on farms and the chosen community land, where the trees are not
harvested.

B.4. Detailed baseline information, including the date of completion of the baseline study and the
name of person(s)/entity(ies) determining the baseline:

The mitigation potential from fruit orchard (mango) under the community and farm forestry
options is 47.42 tC/ha for the 30 year project period. This is the technology selected for all
participating farmers both for community forestry on empty community land and farm forestry
on fallow land. No harvest regime is adopted.

Table : Carbon stock change (in tC) for the project area under baseline and mitigation scenario
and the carbon increment for various project activities for 2005-35

Year 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035

COMMUNITY FORESTRY Fruit Orchard (Block) plus


FARM FORESTRY Fruit Orchard (Block)
Fruit Orchard (Block) (1383 ha) (tC)
Baseline 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41
Mitigation 51572.07 65733.99 76604.37 86271.54 96422.76 106076.1 115743.27
Increment 1410.66 15572.58 26442.96 36110.13 46261.35 55914.69 65581.86

Overall thus, the mitigation potential of the project for community forestry and farm forestry
using farm forestry block fruit farm option from an area of 1383 ha is 65582 tC at a rate of 47.42
tC/ha for the period 2005-2035, which is approximately 1.58 tC/ha/yr.
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Fig 2: Incremental tC 2005 to 2035

Incremental Carbon in tC
70000
60000
50000
40000
tC
Incremental
30000
Carbon
20000
10000
0
05

10

15

20

25

30

35
20

20

20

20

20

20

20
Year

Thus, the overall mitigation potential in this project in the Northern part of Kolar District for a
total area of 1383 ha under the chosen mitigation option is 240’000 tCO2 at a rate of 173.56
tC02/ha for the period 2005-2035, which is approximately 5.79 tC02/ha/yr.

Fig 3: Incremental tCO2 from 2005 to 2035

Incremental tonnes CO2


tonnes CO2

250000
200000
150000 Incremental
100000 Tonnes C02
50000
0
05

10

15

20

25

30

35
20

20

20

20

20

20

20

Years

The study on which this project report is based is: METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN FORESTRY
MITIGATION PROJECTS - A CASE STUDY OF KOLAR DISTRICT, by Ravindranath N H.,
Murthy I. K., Sudha, P., Ramprasad V., Nagendra, M.D.V., Sahana, C.A., Khan, H. and
Srivathsa, K.G., Centre for Sustainable Technologies & Centre for Ecological Sciences
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

Date of completion of the baseline study: July 2004

Name of person(s)/entity(ies) determining the baseline: Ravindranath N H., Murthy I. K., Sudha,
Centre for Ecological Science, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore

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SECTION C. Application of a monitoring methodology and of a monitoring plan

C.1. Title and reference of approved monitoring methodology applied to the project activity:

The tile and reference is not yet available. The approach used is taken from FCCC/TP/2004/2 of
28 May 2004, “Simplified modalities and procedures for small-scale afforestation and
reforestation project activities under the clean development mechanism, Technical paper”,
FCCC/TP/2004/2, Page 25, Appendix B. The indicative simplified monitoring methodology for
the selected type of small-scale afforestation and reforestation project activity is:

Table : Monitoring methodology

Elements Type Simplified Monitoring


Methodology
Project boundary N/A Option 2: Allow exclusion
of some carbon pools.
Dynamic boundaries to
allow for buffer.
Baseline net Cropland No need to monitor; no
greenhouse gas incremental carbon
removals by sinks accumulation in baseline
scenario
Actual net Agroforestry (open) AGB: (m) and (c)
greenhouse gas Soil: (m) and (c)
removals by sinks Litter: (m) and (c)
(with buffer to offset
losses)
Leakage Small No need to monitor
leakage
Net anthropogenic greenhouse gas Annual uptake as
removals by sinks measured and estimated,
with static baseline

C.2. Justification of the choice of the methodology and its applicability to the proposed A/R CDM
project activity:

A key aspect of implementing an afforestation project under CDM for carbon mitigation is
accurate and precise quantification of project-level carbon benefits and its verification by
independent expert teams. Marrakech Decision-/CP.7 calls for monitoring, verification and
certification, and finally the issuance of CERs in tCO2 for the project activity.

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Monitoring includes both monitoring and evaluation steps. Further, verification and certification
steps are included under reporting in the Marrakech Decision. All the carbon pools need to be
measured and monitored. The issues involved in measurement, monitoring and verification of
JFM projects are as follows:

Methods for measurement and monitoring: There are several methods for measuring and
monitoring of different carbon pools. According to the modalities and procedures outlined in the
Annex decision 17/CP.7, “project participants shall include, as part of the project design
document, a monitoring plan that provides for; collection and archiving of all relevant data
necessary for measuring anthropogenic emissions by sources and removal by sinks, occurring
within the project boundary as also the identification of significant potential sources of
anthropogenic emissions outside the project boundary, reasonably attributable to the project
activity during the crediting period”. There is therefore a need to identify and select methods,
which give acceptable accuracy in a cost-effective way. Standard textbook methods are available
for measuring and monitoring carbon pools for a CDM afforestation project. The Special Report
of IPCC (Watson et al., 2000) has discussed different accounting, measurement and monitoring
approaches and methods with implications for costs, institutional capacity needed and accuracy.
A CDM afforestation project could consider the level of accuracy needed and the cost involved,
and list the methods to be adopted in consultation with forestry, soil science and other experts.
Monitoring forestry sector mitigation projects is more complex than energy sector mitigation
projects due to their long gestation period, non-linear rates of carbon accumulation in vegetation
and soil, varying rates of extraction of different woody biomass products, emissions from forest
soil, forest floor, forest fire, and various end uses from wood removed (Ravindranath and Bhat,
1997). A case study of the Western Ghats Forestry and Environment Project showed that less
than 10% of the project budget may be adequate for intensive monitoring of carbon stocks and
flows, including creation of infrastructure and capacity building activities (Ravindranath and
Bhat, 1997). There is a direct correlation between cost and accuracy and it varies with the carbon
pool. Currently, there are no guidelines regarding the level of precision to which carbon pools
should be measured and monitored, for different categories of projects. CDM afforestation
project proponents could adopt the guidelines issued by Executive Board of the CDM to the
Climate Convention, once they are approved available.
Verification is periodic independent review of monitored reductions in anthropogenic emissions
by sources of GHGs and removal by sinks that have occurred as a result of a registered CDM
project activity during the verification period. Verification is critical for obtaining CERs or
RMUs (Removal Units) and involves assessing the methods adopted, sample size, periodicity of
measurements, the quality of data gathered, baseline calculations, household surveys, sample
measurements, satellite imagery used, conducting discussion meetings and interview with
various stakeholders etc. Reporting of CDM projects implemented and the associated carbon
stocks and flows and socio-economic impacts is necessary.

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Data to be Institutional
Parameter Methods Frequency
monitored arrangement
Quadrats - No of
Survival rate Annual Participatory
counting seedlings/trees
Biomass Quadrats -
DBH & height Annual Research team
growth measure
Field methods,
Research team
soil sampling, Soil organic Once every
Soil carbon or educational
lab estimation carbon two years
institution
of soil C

Justification: The method adopted is simple and relies on tried and tested field measurement
techniques. Pilot phase activities proved the usefulness of the approach.

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C.3. Monitoring of the baseline net GHG removals by sinks and the actual net GHG removals by sinks:

C.3.1. Actual net GHG removals by sinks data:

C.3.1.1. Data to be collected or used in order to monitor the verifiable changes in carbon stock in the carbon pools within
the project boundary resulting from the proposed A/R CDM project activity, and how this data will be archived:
ID number Data variable Source of Data Measured Recording Proportion How will Comment
(Please use data unit (m), frequency of data to be the data be
numbers to calculated monitored archived?
ease cross (c) (electronic/
referencing or estimated paper)
to D.3) (e)
1 Mean annual Field t/ha m, c, e annual Sample e and p For details of
above ground Monitoring MAI
biomass measurements,
growth rate refer to
Section B3
above.
2 Rate of Field tC/ha m, c, e annual Sample e and p Refer to
carbon Monitoring Section B3
uptake in soil
3 Quantity of Field t/ha m, c, e annual Sample e and p Refer to
litter fall Monitoring Section B3
4 Belowground Use of tC/ha Estimated annual - e and p Refer to
biomass conversion using AGB Section B3
ratio values

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C.3.1.2. Data to be collected or used in order to monitor the GHG emissions by the sources, measured in units of CO2
equivalent, that are increased as a result of the implementation of the proposed A/R CDM project activity within the project boundary,
and how this data will be archived:
ID number Data variable Source of Data Measured Recording Proportion How will Comment
(Please use data unit (m), frequency of data to be the data be
numbers to calculated monitored archived?
ease cross (c) (electronic/
referencing or estimated paper)
to D.3) (e)

n/a

C.3.1.3. Description of formulae and/or models used to monitor the estimation of the actual net GHG removals by sinks:

AGB: 100% removal is achieved if all trees are standing. Estimated AGB will be monitored against the actual rate of growth through
sample plots.
Project buffer used to make up for losses. (Replacement after monitoring to ensure actual net GHG removals by sinks equal to
estimated project GHG removal).
Soil: 100% removal is achieved if increment is 0.58±0.72 tC/ha/yr
Litter: 100% removal represented by 0.25 t/ha/yr increment
BGB – Estimates monitored against actual AGB values and adjusted accordingly

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C.3.1.3.1. Description of formulae and/or models used to monitor the estimation of the verifiable changes in carbon stock
in the carbon pools within the project boundary (for each carbon pool in units of CO2 equivalent):

The ideal approach is to measure all the C-pools. However, resource and time limitation will dictate selection of two or three dominant
C-pools, considering the pools most likely to be impacted. The Marrakech Accord has also suggested reporting of changes in the
stocks of five C-pools; Above Ground Biomass (AGB), Below Ground Biomass (BGB), litter, dead wood and Soil Organic Carbon
(SOC). Among the different pools, above ground biomass and soil carbon are the most important C-pools in the forest sector. The
Revised IPCC 1996 Guideline focused on above ground biomass, soil carbon and woody litter pools (IPCC, 1996). Scientific methods
are available for estimating C-stock changes in all the pools. Here we discuss the methods adopted for estimating the carbon in the
different pools considered in this study.
Aboveground biomass: Standard and reliable field ecological methods are available for making estimates of aboveground biomass.
These methods are robust and have been applied widely by ecologists for many years. Likewise, in this study also, the plot method of
study was adopted for sampling baseline as well as project scenario land/vegetation types.

Soil carbon: Standard textbook methods that are reliable and feasible for analyzing for organic carbon were used. However, there
could be variation due to biophysical factors. Further, it is difficult to detect small changes in organic carbon over short periods and
therefore soil carbon change could be estimated over longer time periods, as compared to aboveground biomass.

Below ground biomass and woody litter: Limited methods are available for estimation of below ground biomass and woody litter.
There is very little experience with respect to below ground biomass estimation. Woody litter was estimated in this study by actually
gathering and weighing the fallen twigs and branches from the area being considered for the project during baseline scenario
development. A conversion factor of 0.26 was adopted for estimating below ground biomass from above ground biomass.

Remote sensing technology may be useful for monitoring LUCF projects, though to date it has hardly been used (Brown, 1999).
Interpretation of satellite imagery has been used mostly for producing land-use maps of project areas and for estimating rates of land-
use change or deforestation in the project formulation phase. However, remote sensing technology clearly has potential for monitoring
forest protection projects and trends in plantation or agro-forestry establishment at the sub-national to national scales. Monitoring of
improved forest management or secondary forests, particularly in the tropics, is difficult with the current suite of satellites (Helmer et

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al., 1999), but future development and launching of new satellites may overcome this problem. Not all remotely sensed monitoring
activities, need to use data from satellites. Because LUCF projects have well defined boundaries and are relatively small in area
(several hundreds to thousands of ha), remotely sensed data from low flying airplanes can be used for monitoring. However, there is
high uncertainty in using remote sensing technology for monitoring small projects.

Database on Growth Rate of C-pools

There are serious limitations with respect to availability of data on growth rates of different carbon pools for different forestry
activities. Growth rates are available only for certain commercially or economically important forestry species and similar data for
non-commercial forest and horticultural plantation species, naturally regenerating forests and agro-forestry species are lacking.
Further, there is no database available for below ground biomass and woody litter. The availability of biomass estimation equations is
again restricted to few commercially important forest species, giving rise to an urgent need to develop biomass estimation equations
for the various species commonly opted by communities and farmers. Developing default values for different species across different
ecological zones along with rate of change of soil carbon density under different situations - forestry, plantation, natural regeneration
and agro-forestry situations is an urgent requirement to enable cost-effective and successful development of forestry mitigation
projects.

Thus, the same methods used for estimating baseline stocks will be applied to estimate as well as monitor the verifiable changes in the
stocks of various carbon pools within the project boundary.

C.3.1.3.2. Description of formulae and/or models used to monitor the estimation of the GHG emissions by the sources,
measured in units of CO2 equivalent, that are increased as a result of the implementation of the proposed A/R CDM project activity
within the project boundary (for each source and gas, in units of CO2 equivalent):

not applicable

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C.3.2. As appropriate, relevant data necessary for determining the baseline net GHG removals by sinks and how such data will be
collected and archived:
ID number Data variable Source of Data Measured Recording Proportion How will Comment
(Please use data unit (m), frequency of data to be the data be
numbers to calculated monitored archived?
ease cross (c) (electronic/
referencing or estimated paper)
to D.3) (e)
1 Mean annual Field t/ha c annual all e and p
above ground Monitoring
biomass
increment
2 Rate of Field tC/ha e annual all e and p
carbon Monitoring
uptake in soil
3 Quantity of Field tC/ha e annual all e and p
litter fall Monitoring
4 Belowground
biomass

C.3.2.1. Description of formulae and/or models used to monitor the estimation of the baseline net GHG removals by sinks
(for each carbon pool, in units of CO2 equivalent):

Refer to B.2 for details on baseline methodology, which will be applied for monitoring too. However, the sample size for monitoring will be
increased if first monitoring indicates more intensive monitoring is required.

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C.4. Treatment of leakage in the monitoring plan:

Leakage: Leakage is “the net change of anthropogenic emissions by sources of GHGs and removal by sinks, which occurs outside the
project boundary, and which is measurable and attributable to the project activity”. Leakage is failure to capture greenhouse gas
changes outside the accounting system that result from project activities within the project boundary. Forestry projects are often
assumed to lead to leakage, due to shift in extraction or land use change. Activity shifting is physical displacement of emission
generating activities that would have occurred in the baseline, to other locations. In this study, efforts were made to estimate leakage
in both community forestry as well as farm forestry projects.

Community forestry: The leakage estimation for community forestry option was based on a PRA exercise as well as household survey
where the quantity of fuelwood and poles/small timber currently extracted from community grazing land and degraded forest land –
the land categories proposed for the project were quantified.

The leakage is estimated to be equal to the current rates of extraction of fuelwood/small timber under baseline from the land proposed
for the project. Thus, in community forestry projects extending over an area of about 8500 ha, the annual extraction or loss of biomass
per ha is about 10 kg/annum. This is about 0.025% of the total mean annual carbon stock change during project implementation (Table
12).

Farm forestry: A sample survey of farmers already promoting farm forestry was conducted so as to estimate leakage in farm forestry
projects. Here too the leakage is assumed to be equal to the current rates of extraction of wood from farms proposed for project under
baseline. However, the survey indicates that there is insignificant extraction of biomass from the block plantations in the project
scenario survey. Therefore this is a case of zero leakage.

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Table : Leakage estimates for community and farm forestry options

Option Total Annual Total % of total


project extraction or leakage/year mean annual
area (ha) loss kg/ha (t) carbon stock
change
Community and
1383 - - -
farm forestry

The leakage from the proposed land categories of community grazing lands and degraded land categories is low or insignificant as the
above ground biomass recorded on the proposed lands for project activities in the current condition is quite low and therefore biomass
extraction is low too.

Leakage Mitigation Measures

As discussed in the previous section, leakage is not really an issue in the community and farm forestry projects proposed for Northern
Kolar District ranges. Also, given that there are policies that ban conversion of land from forest to non-forestry purposes in India and
the land categories considered for the project are in a degraded state with insignificant biomass supply and therefore low dependence
of local communities, the risk of leakage is much reduced. In fact, a forestry mitigation project would actually enhance the supply of
biomass, by way of twigs and small branches, which could serve as fuel wood to the communities involved in the project.

There is ample evidence to show that forestry projects, taken up on lands similar to the one proposed for this project have not led to
leakage. This is because the baseline status of land considered for project activity is largely degraded or community land with no tree
cover and low carbon density (above-ground biomass). A series of studies in many locations across India have shown that there is no
shift in extraction pressure to non-project areas where project activity is initiated on degraded forest and pasture land with very little or
no above ground tree biomass (Ravindranath et al., 2000). It is evident from these multi-locational studies that meeting firewood
requirements in a sustainable manner is one of the critical goals of forest protection and management committees.

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C.4.1. If applicable, please describe the data and information that will be collected in order to monitor leakage of the proposed A/R
CDM project activity:
ID number Data variable Source of Data Measured Recording Proportion How will Comment
(Please use data unit (m), frequency of data to be the data be
numbers to calculated monitored archived?
ease cross (c) (electronic/
referencing or estimated paper)
to D.3) (e)

n/a

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C.4.2. Description of formulae and/or models used to estimate leakage (for each GHG, source, carbon pool, in units of CO2
equivalent:

not applicable

C.4.3. Please specify the procedures for the periodic review of implementation of activities and measures to minimize leakage:

Not applicable

C.5. Description of formulae and/or models used to estimate net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks for the proposed A/R CDM
project activity (for each GHG, carbon pool, in units of CO2 equivalent):

Project scenario C-stocks minus Baseline scenario C-stocks will give the net GHG removal by sinks, given that there is no leakage.

Year 2005 2010 2015 2020 2025 2030 2035

COMMUNITY FORESTRY Fruit Orchard (Block) plus


FARM FORESTRY Fruit Orchard (Block)
Fruit Orchard (Block) (1383 ha) (tC)
Baseline 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41 50161.41
Mitigation 51572.07 65733.99 76604.37 86271.54 96422.76 106076.1 115743.27
Increment 1410.66 15572.58 26442.96 36110.13 46261.35 55914.69 65581.86

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C.6. Quality control (QC) and quality assurance (QA) procedures are being undertaken for data monitored:

Data Uncertainty level of data Explain QA/QC procedures planned for these data, or why such procedures are not necessary.
(Indicate table and (High/Medium/Low)
ID number e.g. 3.-
1.; 3.2.)
C.3.2.1 High Increase the sample size to cover larger areas as well as larger diversity of local conditions
C.3.2.2 Low Increase the number of samples as well as compile information from literature pertaining to the
project area
C.3.2.3 Low Periodic monitoring of litter fall as well as gathering by local collectors
C.3.2.4 High With improved AGB estimates, reliability of BGB data increases, as BGB is estimated from AGB
using a conversion ratio

Establishment of Baseline: For project activities, it is necessary to establish baseline through control sites, which are similar to the
project area to serve as valid proxies under the assumption that the project was not implemented (Vine et al., 1999). The location for
the proposed forestry mitigation options is the community grazing lands and wastelands for community forestry and long fallow
farmlands for farm forestry that have no other alternative land use. Past records of land use pattern have shown minimum land
conversion to other land uses. Hence the baseline area estimation is fairly accurate with minimal uncertainty. Data on area availability
for mitigation activities has also been verified through field visits in the study area.

Uncertainty associated with biomass estimation under baseline is from aboveground biomass and the annual aboveground biomass
increment. The estimate of aboveground biomass is based on field ecological measurements. The aboveground biomass in the
community grazing lands is very low (0.3 tC/ha) and is unlikely to change due to low woody biomass. Hence the uncertainty is low.
Since time series data on AGB are unavailable and the field data were cross-section studies, an assumption of 0.01 tC/ha is considered
as the mean annual increment in aboveground biomass. The uncertainty associated is likely to be insignificant due to the low
aboveground biomass.

Measurement of Carbon Pools: Field methods to accurately quantify carbon pools exist, but the level of precision varies by pool.
However, stratification of the project area into more or less homogeneous units, based on vegetation type, soil type, land-use history,
or topography, can increase the precision of the carbon measurements without increasing the cost unduly because it lowers the

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variance of measurements thus requiring fewer plots to be within acceptable levels of precision. Based on the various mitigation
options suggested by the village community, which were currently practiced in nearby villages, sites were selected for measurement of
mean annual above ground biomass growth rate, rate of carbon uptake in soil and quantity of litter fall. Uncertainty is large with
regard to mean annual increment of above ground biomass as they were derived from plantations of different age classes. The
uncertainty is compounded especially for the annual carbon stock change over the baseline. The uncertainty associated with soil
organic carbon stock under various mitigation options was low, but the uncertainty was large for rate of carbon uptake. The main
reason for the uncertainty is due to the fact that the baseline may not reflect the actual soil organic carbon content before the plantation
was raised. Soil organic carbon content is highly site- and study-specific and is influenced by rotation lengths, harvest practices, site
preparation activities and fertilization that interfere strongly the soil organic carbon (Harmon and Marks, 2002). Changes in
disturbance regimes such as fires, pest outbreaks and other stand-replacing disturbances are also expected to alter the forest soil carbon
pool (Li and Apps, 2002; de Groot et al, 2002). Thus a large variation in the annual soil organic carbon uptake was recorded.

Table: Uncertainty associated with the measured carbon pools

Location MAI Soil organic Rate of carbon


(t/ha/year) carbon uptake in soil*
(tC/ha) (t/ha/yr)
COMMUNITY FORESTRY (Block Plantation) and
FARM FORESTRY (Block Plantation)
36.27±
Baseline
Fruit Orchard 2.50±0.86 44.49±4.18 0.58±0.72
(Mango+Tamarindus indica)

*the soil organic carbon under mitigation option was subtracted with baseline soil organic carbon and divided by the age of the
plantation to arrive at the rate of soil organic carbon uptake.
Taking these factors into account, the project mitigation values are calculated. Monitoring will take these uncertainties into account in
a similar way.

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C.7. Please describe the operational and management structure(s) that the project operator will implement in order to monitor actual
GHG removals by sinks and any leakage generated by the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

Leakage will not be monitored. Monitoring of actual removal by sinks will be done through monitoring in the following manner:

AGB: Quadrats laid, species name as well as girth and height of individual trees recorded, which will help estimate AGB using the
biomass equations
Soil: Within the tree quadrats laid, shrub quadrats will be laid and in these soil samples will be gathered at 2 depths, 0-15 cm and 15-
30 cm, and soil carbon estimated using standard laboratory procedures (details: quadrats described in Section B.1.1.)
Litter: From within the shrub quadrats, all fallen woody litter gathered and weighed
Field workers will collect this information once a year.

C.8. Name of person/entity determining the monitoring methodology:

Murthy I. K., Sudha, P., Centre for Sustainable Technologies & Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.

SECTION D. Estimation of net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks:

D.1. Estimate of the actual net GHG removals by sinks:

423568 tCO2

D.2. Estimated baseline net GHG removals by sinks:

183568 tCO2

D.3. Estimated leakage:

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nil

D.4. The sum of D.1 minus D.2 minus D.3 representing the net anthropogenic GHG removals by
sinks of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

240’000 tCO2

D.5. Table providing values obtained when applying formulae above:

Table 16: net anthropogenic GHG removals by sinks of the proposed A/R CDM project activity

Fruit Orchard (Block) (1383 ha) (tC)


Baseline 183568.19 183568.19 183568.19 183568.19 183568.19 183568.19 183568.19
Mitigation 188730.57 240556.82 280337.52 315715.01 352863.91 388190.79 423568.28
Increment 5162.381 56988.64 96769.33 132146.8 169295.7 204622.6 240000.1

SECTION E. Environmental impacts of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

E.1. Documentation on the analysis of the environmental impacts, including impacts on biodiversity and natural ecosystems, and impacts
outside the project boundary of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

There are potential synergies and tradeoffs between climate change activities (projects and policies) and the conservation and
sustainable use objectives of the Convention on Biological Diversity (IPCC, 2002). Afforestation and reforestation activities can have
negative impacts on biodiversity, if taken up in forest ecosystems with already existing biodiversity value. Conversely, if biodiversity
is being promoted on land that is degraded, it will have a positive impact on biodiversity. Clear demonstration of the effect of forestry
mitigation projects on biodiversity, regeneration of vegetative cover through afforestation or reforestation activities on degraded forest
or non-forest or pastureland leading to soil and water conservation and protection of watersheds, and increased supply of biomass is

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essential as sustainable development issues are at the heart of mitigation projects. It is therefore important to assess the environmental
or ecological impacts of a project, particularly on biodiversity.

An environmental impact assessment for understanding the impact of project activity on land and soil, vegetation, wildlife and
protected areas, wherever applicable is therefore important. Biodiversity was assessed using standard ecological methods and indices.
The Shannon Wiener Diversity Index (H’) was used. The same method was adopted for assessing biodiversity in the project scenario
also. Findings revealed that the projected multi-component and multi-objective activities identified by the communities for promotion
under community as well as farm forestry options promoted biodiversity. For e.g. fruit orchards would help improve the biodiversity
of the area while short rotation trees such as eucalyptus would provide income as well as poles and long rotation species such as teak
would provide income as well as timber.

Species diversity refers to variation that exists in an ecosystem. It is an indicator of the extent of biodiversity. Diversity is often
represented in the form of indices. These indices incorporate both species richness and abundance into a single numerical value. These
are also referred to as the heterogeneity indices. The two widely used indices are Shannon Wiener diversity index and Simpson’s
index. Shannon Wiener index gives the probability of occurrence of two individuals belonging to two different species in a habitat,
when selected at random. The diversity indices consider the number of species, the number of individuals of a species as well as the
total number of individuals of all species.
An estimate of the biodiversity during establishment of baseline as well as project scenarios both for community as well as farm
forestry projects indicates that there is an improvement in biodiversity over the baseline in the project scenario (Table 17), as multi-
species forestry is promoted, as is the choice of community for community grazing land and degraded forest lands, and the farmers for
bund and block plantations.

Table 17: Diversity estimates of baseline and project scenarios for community and farm forestry

Community Forestry Farm Forestry


Baseline Project Baseline scenario Project scenario
scenario scenario Bund Block Bund Block
0.32-2.09 2.09 0.0-0.2 - 2.04 1.31

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E.2. If any negative impact is considered significant by the project participants or the host Party, a statement that project participants
have undertaken an environmental impact assessment, in accordance with the procedures required by the host Party, including
conclusions and all references to support documentation:

Not applicable

E.3. Description of planned monitoring and remedial measures to address significant impacts referred to in section E.2. above:

Not applicable
SECTION F. Socio-economic impacts of the proposed A/R CDM project activity:

F.1. Documentation on the analysis of the socio-economic impacts, including impacts outside the project boundary of the proposed A/R
CDM project activity:

All forestry sector activities are labour-intensive and create rural employment in establishing, protecting and maintaining forests or
plantations and also provide diverse biomass products. Thus, mitigation activities aimed at carbon sink creation or enhancement and in
turn forest conservation and regeneration of degraded forests and non-forests will lead to improvement of the livelihoods of forest
dependent communities. Further, A&R activities increase the supply of biomass such as fuelwood to communities, to meet their
biomass requirements. Forestry mitigation activities can be designed to enable sustainable or agreed rates of biomass extraction,
ultimately contributing to forest conservation.
In the proposed project, which is multi-component including promotion of fruit orchards on a large-scale, biodiversity promotion will
be attended to on the bunds. Further, these fruit tree species with varied gestation periods and end-use would provide not only
economic returns at different time periods but also in a sustained manner, as fruit orchards yield over many decades, albeit with
variations in yield. Further, the various silvicultural operations and other plantation related activities especially on community lands
would provide employment to the communities involved in project implementation apart from employment at the time of initiation of
the project when various activities such as land preparation, pitting, nursery raising, transportation of seedlings and actual planting
occurs.

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F.2. If any negative impact is considered significant by the project participants or the host Party, a statement that project participants
have undertaken a socioeconomic impact assessment, in accordance with the procedures required by the host Party, including conclusions
and all references to support documentation:

not applicable

F.3. Description of planned monitoring and remedial measures to address significant


impacts referred to in section F.2 above:

not applicable

SECTION G. Stakeholders’ comments:

G.1. Brief description of how comments by local stakeholders have been invited and compiled:

10 years of discussion, pilot project, participatory decision-making etc. (see www.climateindia.com). The pilot activities for this
project was the first afforestation project activity to receive approval from the Government of India as an AIJ project in 1996.

To explore the land available for A&R, forest department records were consulted to obtain the land under degraded forest category
and revenue records for obtaining land under community grazing land in Kolar district. The range with maximum area under these
categories (Bagepalli for community forestry and Gauribidanur for farm forestry) were selected and a reconnaissance survey of
sample villages done to ground truth the area defined and estimate the actual area available for A&R activities. A PRA exercise was
conducted in 10 sample villages of Bagepalli range to explore the interest of communities and the extent of land they wanted to
dedicate for A&R, given that they are dependent on these land categories for fuelwood and grazing purposes. The communities were
asked for their choice of species and the proportion of land to be dedicated for each of the species. Thus, a list of species to be

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promoted under community forestry option, the proportion of the species to be promoted on the two land categories and the phasing of
the activity was obtained.

Secondary data was obtained from panchayats regarding the land holding of different farmers within the villages chosen as sample in
Gauribidanur range. They were further classified as large and small farmers based on their land holding. A sample of 10 whole farms
was surveyed for estimating the potential for farm forestry. The farmers or the owners of these lands were interviewed using a
questionnaire to elucidate their interest in farm forestry, the species choice, and the extent of land they were inclined to dedicate for
implementation of farm forestry option either as bund or block.

G.2. Summary of the comments received:

Communities during discussion welcomed the idea of afforestation/reforestation on private lands as well as community lands, given
that the region is dry, semi-arid and with low tree cover. Communities are interested in promoting fruit orchards as it would be a
source of additional income and is less subject to the vagaries of weather compared to annual crops.

G.3. Report on how due account was taken of any comments received:

Need to go ahead with project. The species chosen for promotion in the project are those that were the choice of the people. Also, the
area to be dedicated was decided on consiulation with the local stakeholders.

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Annex 1

CONTACT INFORMATION ON PARTICIPANTS IN THE PROPOSED A/R CDM PROJECT


ACTIVITY

Organization: Women for Sustainable Development


Street/P.O.Box: Kempapura Road
Building: Hebbal
City: Bangalore
State/Region: Karnataka
Postfix/ZIP: 560024
Country: India
Telephone: 0091 80 23637007
FAX: 0091 80 23611584
E-Mail: wsd@vsnl.com
URL: www.climateindia.com
Represented by: Anandi Sharan
Title: Ms.
Salutation: President
Last Name: Sharan
Middle Name: Meili
First Name: Anandi
Department: -
Mobile: 9448034562
Direct FAX: 0091 80 23611584
Direct tel: 0091 80 23637007
Personal E-Mail: anandi@bgl.vsnl.net.in

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Annex 2

INFORMATION REGARDING PUBLIC FUNDING

There is no public funding involved. There is support from the Forest department Range Officers, and Indian Insititute of Science.

Annex 3

BASELINE INFORMATION

See attached study


Land category, current status
Annex 4

MONITORING PLAN

A key aspect of implementing an afforestation project under CDM for carbon mitigation is accurate and precise quantification of
project-level carbon benefits and its verification by independent expert teams. Marrakech Decision-/CP.7 calls for monitoring,
verification and certification, and finally the issuance of CERs in tCO2 for the project activity.

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Monitoring includes both monitoring and evaluation steps. Further, verification and certification steps are included under reporting in
the Marrakech Decision. All the carbon pools need to be measured and monitored. The issues involved in measurement, monitoring
and verification of JFM projects are as follows:

Methods for measurement and monitoring: There are several methods for measuring and monitoring of different carbon pools.
According to the modalities and procedures outlined in the Annex decision 17/CP.7, “project participants shall include, as part of the
project design document, a monitoring plan that provides for; collection and archiving of all relevant data necessary for measuring
anthropogenic emissions by sources and removal by sinks, occurring within the project boundary as also the identification of
significant potential sources of anthropogenic emissions outside the project boundary, reasonably attributable to the project activity
during the crediting period”. There is therefore a need to identify and select methods, which give acceptable accuracy in a cost-
effective way. Standard textbook methods are available for measuring and monitoring carbon pools for a CDM afforestation project.
The Special Report of IPCC (Watson et al., 2000) has discussed different accounting, measurement and monitoring approaches and
methods with implications for costs, institutional capacity needed and accuracy. A CDM afforestation project could consider the level
of accuracy needed and the cost involved, and list the methods to be adopted in consultation with forestry, soil science and other
experts.
Monitoring forestry sector mitigation projects is more complex than energy sector mitigation projects due to their long gestation
period, non-linear rates of carbon accumulation in vegetation and soil, varying rates of extraction of different woody biomass
products, emissions from forest soil, forest floor, forest fire, and various end uses from wood removed (Ravindranath and Bhat, 1997).
A case study of the Western Ghats Forestry and Environment Project showed that less than 10% of the project budget may be
adequate for intensive monitoring of carbon stocks and flows, including creation of infrastructure and capacity building activities
(Ravindranath and Bhat, 1997). There is a direct correlation between cost and accuracy and it varies with the carbon pool. Currently,
there are no guidelines regarding the level of precision to which carbon pools should be measured and monitored, for different
categories of projects. CDM afforestation project proponents could adopt the guidelines issued by Executive Board of the CDM to the
Climate Convention, once they are approved available.
Verification is periodic independent review of monitored reductions in anthropogenic emissions by sources of GHGs and removal by
sinks that have occurred as a result of a registered CDM project activity during the verification period. Verification is critical for
obtaining CERs or RMUs (Removal Units) and involves assessing the methods adopted, sample size, periodicity of measurements,

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the quality of data gathered, baseline calculations, household surveys, sample measurements, satellite imagery used, conducting
discussion meetings and interview with various stakeholders etc. Reporting of CDM projects implemented and the associated carbon
stocks and flows and socio-economic impacts is necessary.

Data to be Institutional
Parameter Methods Frequency
monitored arrangement
Quadrats - No of
Survival rate Annual Participatory
counting seedlings/trees
Biomass Quadrats -
DBH & height Annual Research team
growth measure
Field methods,
Research team
soil sampling, Soil organic Once every
Soil carbon or educational
lab estimation carbon two years
institution
of soil C

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