The Livelihood Improvement Impacts of Carbon Sequestration Project. Humbo Wereda, specially Abela SNNPRS

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

3. STUDY AREA DESCRIPTION

4. Methodology

5. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

6. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

7. REFERENCES

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Back ground of the paper

our continent governments and civil society groups are looking for was to mitigate global warming by reducing atmospheric concentration of green house gases(GHG). A viable in this regard is carbon sequestration trough forestry activities. Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing in other potential restores such as lands, forests and oceans etc.Forests can serve as effective sinks absorbing excess carbon dioxide (co2 from the atmosphere IPCC,2). Dioxide (co2) From the atmosphere (IPCC, 2001).The Kyoto Protocol was adopted by international community in 2005 and sets mandatory targets for industrialized countries to reduce GHG emissions by an average of 5.2 below their 1990 levels by 2008-12 (UNEP, 2004).The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol offers a cost-effective opportunity to industrialized countries to reduce their carbon emission by taking up sustainable development projects in developing countries. It allows for sequestration projects (UNFCC,2002).Therefore, in 2005 World Vision Australia in partner with World Vision Ethiopia identified forestry based carbon sequestration as a means to stimulate ongoing community development and test new funding streams such as the CDM (Clean Development Mechanism).The Humbo community- based forest carbon sequestration project is located 420 Kms south-east of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. World Visions operations in the area have been established following the severe famine of 1984. World vision has a long history of community development work in Ethiopia, particularly in the areas of education, health and agriculture. Since the 1984 famine, World vision Ethiopia has had a strong focus on environmental issues with its development interactions, enabling staff to approach this project with a legacy of moving forestry and community development projects successful. The economic and environmental benefits of carbon sequestration projects are particularly relevant for Africa. African countries need increased investment to support poverty alleviation and infrastructure development. With high dependence on land and forest resource for subsistence, there is also a growing threat of widespread natural resource degradation. Accordingly, efforts to mitigate climate change through carbon sequestration projects can bring in money both to regenerate natural resource and raise local incomes (Kituyi, 2002).However, little is known about the status of existing carbon sequestration projects in Africa.

1.2 Statement of the problems

The risk of global climate change as a result of increasing greenhouse gas emissions is presenting a weighty challenge to the international community. There is rising concern about climate change and unpredictability, which has led to a rapidly growing body of literature on impacts of warming on the economy, which may have adverse effects on agriculture. Changes in land use of the forest ecosystem have occurred as a result of climate changes and these have been documented by various researchers (Kifcon, 1994). It is therefore important to assess the role of forest carbon sequestration in the mitigation of climate change. The establishment of the potential socio-economic value of forests is critical for substantial and productive agriculture and therefore to food security. Sub-Saharan Africa, which includes Ethiopia, is hard-hit by climate change. This region experiences high temperatures and low (and highly variable) precipitation. Interestingly, the economies of this region are highly dependent on agriculture (Kurukulasuriya and Rosenthal, 2003). The levels and trends of forest changes have also been aggravated by the increase in human population around the forest ecosystem. Parts of the forest have been converted to agricultural activities and settlement leading to a net loss of the natural forest area.

1.3 OBJECTIVES

1.3.1 General Objective

The general objective of the study is to determine whether forest carbon sequestration projects are able to improve rural livelihood, and conventional environmental conservation. Portrayal insights from the issues highlighted above, the study focused on the following specific objectives

1.3.2 Specific Objective

To assess the current project implementation which could warranty greater social and economic benefits to participants and further enhance local sustainable development To examine the environmental benefits to the local community from carbon sequestration project.

To assess the weather forest carbon sequestration project has an influence on the local community environmental resource management knowledge and use of forest especially in climate change mitigation.

To assess the gaps of forest management system in the area.

1.4 Research Questions

This study tried to determine whether carbon project program is really improving the livelihoods of the community and conservation of the forest. It has hence addressed the following research question:

This study addresses the following research questions:

1. What are the expected advantages of forest carbon sequestration projects implemented to the local communities of Abela longena? Does it have significant social and economic values?
2. How does the implementation of forest carbon sequestration in Abela longena impact on environmental resource management systems and environmental conservation of the local community?
3. What are other benefits that are envisaged from forest carbon sequestration?

1.5 Significance of the study

It can form the basis for achieving the countries responsibility to the Kyoto Protocol by meeting the country’s net emissions targets for CO2 and other GHGs. On the other hand, the households surrounding the forest may plant trees for other purposes other than to sequester carbon. This in turn becomes a positive externality because when farmers plant trees, for example for conservation purpose, the trees also serves the purpose of sequestering carbon. It would sensitize the carbon project developmental programs as a mechanism for enhancing sustainable development. The study would help to understand the role that HCP can play in the mitigation of climate change via carbon sequestration which could, in turn can help in the proper management of the forest with positive implications for agriculture. Another significant aspect of this study is that carbon project development programs could lead to local livelihood and environmental improvements of the local community. It would offer an alternative solution to problems of failure of developmental programs and its implication for policy making.

1.6 Limitations of the study

These study has many limitations, some of the limitations are ;time is one of the determinant factor since all my time was held by office and teaching the students, and low commitment of primary data collector and un wiliness of people to give information regarding the study etc are major limitations. Even though there are seven carbon project cooperatives in Humbo Woreda, this study was conducted at only one cooperative namely Abela Longena as there was a shortage of time and other resources. The study didn’t include households who were not the member of the project. In such away, the study only focuses on benefits which are envisaged by local communities from the project and HCP implementation and design.

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Now a day, due to humans and natural causes, our country and local forest coverage decreasing and minimizing. For such reason, World and local temperature becomes warm and results global warming. Global warming refers to an average increase in the earth’s temperature, which in turn causes changes in climate. Global warming is a phenomenon by which a rise in temperature of the Earth is experienced. This happens because certain gases in the atmosphere (Water vapor, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and methane, for example) trap energy from the sun. Without these gases, heat would escape back in to space and Earths average temperature would be about 60o F colder. Because of how they warm our world, these gases are referred to as greenhouse gases (Boswell, 2006).Greenhouses look like a small glass house. Greenhouses are used to grow plants, especially in the winter. Greenhouse works by trapping heat from the Sun. The glass panels of the greenhouse let in light but keep heat from escaping. This causes the greenhouse to heat up, much like the inside of a car parked in sunlight, and keeps the plants warm enough to live in the winter. The earth’s atmosphere is all around us. It is the air that we breathe. Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere behave much like the glass panes in a greenhouse. Sunlight enters the Earth’s atmosphere, passing through the blanket of greenhouse gases. As it reaches the earth surface, land, water, and biosphere absorb the sun lights energy. Once absorbed, this energy is sent back in to the atmosphere. Some of the energy passes back into space, but much of it remains trapped in the atmosphere by the greenhouse gases, causing our world to heat up. The greenhouse effect is important. Without the greenhouse effect, the Earth would not be warm enough for humans to live. But if the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, it could make the earth warmer than usual. Even a little extra warming may cause problems for humans, plants and animals (Biswal, 2006) .A warmer earth may lead to changes in rainfall patterns a rise in sea level and a wide range of impacts on plants, wildlife and humans. When scientists talk about the issue of climate change, their concern is about global warming caused by human activities. Carbon sequestration is the process of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in other potential reservoirs such as land, forests, oceans etc. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2001) describes it as the process of increasing the carbon content of a (carbon) reservoir other than the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration has assumed significance in the face of rising global warming, which results from buildup of green house gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous dioxide, and sulphur hexafluoride etc., in the atmosphere. Carbon sequestration has assumed significance in the face of rising global warming, which results from build up of green house gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous dioxide, and sulphur hexafluoride etc., in the atmosphere. These green house gases (GHGS) absorb heat radiated from the earth’s surface and have been responsible for maintaining temperature on the earth’s surface in the past. However, over r the 20th century, increasing concentrating of GHGs in the atmosphere has led to unprecedented at an average of 0.5% per decade, making 1990s the warmest decade and 1998 the warmest year in the instrumental record. There is evidence to show that there is a 10% decrease in the snow cover since the 1960s and that there has been a widespread retreat of mountain glaciers in non-polar regions during the 20th century.

Anthropogenic activities such as burning of fossil fuels and deforestation are the main reasons for the substantial increase in the concentration of GHGS in the atmosphere. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes estimates that in a business as usual scenario, temperatures could further increase by 1.4O C -5.8O C over the next 100 years.

2.1 Carbon sequestration in Africa

This section majorly relies on the work done by Rohit et al, (2006) on status of carbon sequestration in Africa where 19 carbon sequestration projects operating in 16 countries was expansively implemented in Africa. They found out that 7 out of the 19 projects were situated in East Africa states (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania). The projects followed a multi sector approach with the aim of winning more than one goal. A good example is the case Sustainable Energy Management project in Burkina Faso where the project offers carbon sequestration benefits through non-carbon energy sources such as photovoltaic by encouraging the local community to abandon wood fuel and charcoal as energy source. Various organizations are involved in funding carbon investment in Africa. The World Bank has done an enormous work by launching three carbon funds which support eight carbon sequestration projects through the Prototype Carbon Fund (PCF), Community Development Carbon Fund (CDCF), and Bio- Carbon Fund.

2.2 Sustainable development benefits

Sustainable development is an important issue for carbon sequestration projects. Many researchers have documented the livelihood and other development benefits of various carbons Sequestration projects around the world. For some examples see; (Rosa et al ,2003); (Smith and Scherr, 2002); and (Tot ten, 1999).

2.3 Community Development and Participation

According to Ferrinho (1980), community development is the social movement, which occurs when somebody, symbolizing the values of human progress and peoples felt interests, motivates the community as a unit of action. Similarly, Fitzgerald (1980) mentions that the term community development has come into international usage to connote the processes by which the efforts of the people themselves are united to those of government authorities to improve the economic, social and cultural conditions of communities and to the life of the nation and to enable them to contribute fully to national progress. Since community development is inter connected to different elements and systems, the argument that comes to mind is how to enable the people in the community to improve themselves or even to contribute to the national progress because systems in communities are very complex, especially in the Third World countries. Tomas (2000) explains the concept of systems theory in community development as a set of elements in interactions or a group of things that have something in common. This includes any grouping with any sort of relationships. Some of the concerns in community development, i.e. assessing power and influence, understanding the dynamics of inter-groups relationships, and considering the change involved in a planning development activity, can be understood and described using systems theory. Tama’s also noted that in large social systems such as communities, where there is some times entropy (force or tendency) related forces such as disunity, poverty or injustice. It is often difficult to maintain the highly ordered forms of cooperation and social cohesiveness that are needed to foster harmony. Without constant effort, such communities can become unpleasant places to live in. One of the tasks of community development is to help communities find ways of reducing or countering the tendency toward entropy, which exists in all systems. All development actors should learn the need for integration and collaboration as this leads to effective community development.

2.4 Impact on local ecology

Carbon sequestration through a forestation and reforestation can often generate other locally valued ecosystem services such as more regular and higher quality water supplies and control of soil erosion and sedimentation (Scherr et al, 2004). In Western Sudan, for example, a carbon sequestration project has been working towards improving local rangelands.

2.5 Conceptual frame work

The evaluation framework used for analysis here considers whether carbon project program leads to an increase in local community welfare as shown in figure 1.The carbon project helps Sequester carbon by tree planting, while it is switched from illegal activities. This helps to protect and conserve forests. There are two types of carbon project impacts. Firstly it has an impact on environment. When carbon is sequestered through tree planting, it prevents soil erosion, Increases rainfall and increases biodiversity. All these environmental goods and service have Positive impact so as to benefit local community. Secondly, when carbon is sequestered through. Tree planting, it has socio economic benefit to local community. The main socio- economic benefits include carbon cash payments to the local community and agricultural productivity, both which contributed to household welfare?

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