ANNOUNCEMENTS
carbon projects in India which areprime example of NbS projects. hese projects have been designed to provide multiple benefits starting from carbon sequestration to providing livelihood opportunities to local communities and biodiversity conservation. These projects are assessed on their current status and Project Design Documents were analyzed to determine parameters to understand the impact of the projects on field. The ecological, economic and social impacts imparted by such projects has been established based on two case studies- “Reforestation of degraded land by MTPL in India” by Mangalam Timber Products Limited and “Small scale Kashi JFM A/R CDM Project on degraded lands in Kashi Forest Division, Uttar Pradesh, India” by the forest division in Kashi. Even though all the projects are registered, only 8 projects are issuing carbon credits, 7 projects have submitted their monitoring reports but yet to make the suggested corrective changes, while 4 of the projects have had no activities after registration. Key findings of the case studies are that, there are areas that can improve like the distribution of credits to the local communities and better selection of species for cultivation. Kashi project although is not generating any CERs, it is a better model in delivering sustainable development benefits with respect to the CERs issuing MTPL project as it ensures equitable distribution of credits to the communities, establishment of better infrastructure and social institutes like self-help groups and cultivation of multiple native species. This study shall help in overcoming these gaps to design more sustainable afforestation and reforestation projects.
Keywords: Clean Development Mechanism, Nature based solutions, Afforestation and reforestation forest projects, Carbon market, Kashi A/R CDM, MTPL A/R CDM.
