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Bolivia climate change project finalized
March 11, 1998
Bolivia has essentially doubled the size of the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park
Web posted at: 10:26 p.m. EST (0326 GMT)By Environmental News Network staff
The Bolivian government Monday signed an agreement with The Nature Conservancy, three major U.S. corporations and a Bolivian conservation organization to begin a forest conservation project designed to help reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
Participants say the project will become an example of how forest protection projects can be used to lessen greenhouse gas emissions under the 1992 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
As part of the project, the Bolivian government has added 2.1 million acres of tropical forest land to the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, essentially doubling its size. By investing in the protection of this area, three U.S. corporations, American Electric Power, BP America and PacifiCorp, and the Bolivian government will receive carbon offset credits. These credits could have significant market value, should a trading system develop as a result of international negotiations stemming from the December 1997 Kyoto conference on climate change.
Monday's agreement was signed by Bolivia's minister of sustainable development and planning, Eric Reyes Villa; The Nature Conservancy's executive director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Alexander Watson; the president of the Bolivian nonprofit organization Friends of Nature Foundation (FAN), Mario Terceros and its executive director, Hermes Justinano; American Electric Power's vice president for environmental affairs, Dale E. Heydlauff; PacifiCorp's vice president and public policy manager, William Edmonds; and BP America's director of health, safety and environment, Kenneth E. Blower.
Deforestation is the source of approximately 20 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to The Nature Conservancy. When forests are cut down or burned, carbon is released in the form of carbon dioxide, the principle contributor to global warming or climate change. Science has shown that forests act as "sinks" retaining tremendous amounts of carbon and absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide.
By protecting threatened forests, investors thereby are preventing the release of greenhouse gases. In return, they earn offset credits, banking on the belief that the international community will approve a greenhouse gas emission offset trading system.
According to recent project field studies, protection of the forests that make up the new park addition will prevent as much as 15.8 million metric tons of carbon from being released into the atmosphere in the form of carbon dioxide.
In addition to providing funding for development of the project, American Electric Power, a Midwestern U.S. power company, will contribute $7 million to the project. The company raised some of the funds by selling shares in the project to the other partner corporations. The Nature Conservancy and FAN will contribute $2.5 million to the project. The Nature Conservancy also will provide management and technical support. FAN will implement the project.
The Noel Kempff Climate Action Project includes activities that will ensure park protection for 30 years by fostering sustainable micro-enterprise development and establishing a long-term endowment fund for the park. The project also will provide important environmental and socio-economic benefits to Bolivia, including biodiversity conservation, sustainable economic development for local communities and protection of precious soil and water resources.
The Nature Conservancy now is negotiating with several other U.S. corporations and Latin American countries to establish other forestry sector climate change action projects.
Copyright 1998, Environmental News Network, All Rights Reserved
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