Niger: Acacia Community Plantations
(BioCarbon Fund)
The project will reforest a maximum of 22,800 ha of Acacia Senegalensis, a species endemic to the whole African Sahel, over a 5-year period. The project will build on a first pilot phase started in 1993 and developed by Achats Services International (ASI), a dynamic local company. 1,200 ha have already been planted and an adapted technology has been developed with the support of the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Out of the potential 22,800 ha, 800 ha will be directly developed by ASI on private land and up to 22,000 ha by farmers under partnership agreement on communal land. More specifically ASI will develop and manage cost-effective modern nurseries, contribute to farmers' training and assistance for planting trees, maintaining plantations, and gum harvesting. The project will also re-introduce agricultural activities through intercropping with groundnuts and cowpeas. The project is the first implementing the National Strategy developed by the Government of Niger for the development of Acacia Senegalensis plantations. This strategy aims at dealing with the disappearance of Niger natural dry forests provoked by clearing way beyond regeneration capacity to meet the growing demand of firewood. This deforestation has particularly affected gum-producing Acacia Senegalensis, which has resulted in a drastic decrease of the country gum production while the international market is improving.
The project should allow the sequestration of around 0.33 Mt CO2e by 2012 and around 0.69 Mt CO2e by 2017. Also, the project should annually produce about 1,200 tons of gum as well as groundnut, cowpea and other crop production resulting from intercropping. Acacia Senegalensis is superbly adapted to harsh ecological conditions and produces several additional environmental benefits. Besides producing gum, it allows the rehabilitation of degraded areas that have become unfit for agriculture. Acacia's rooting system is very powerful (subterranean biomass is twice the aerial part), which makes it efficient for dune-fixing as well as wind and water erosion control. Its nitrogen-fixing ability improves soil fertility up to restoring agriculture. The restoration of a tree cover will also benefit local biodiversity. About 15,000 farming families are expected to receive social benefits from the project through additional revenues generated by Arabic gum, grains and forage, combined with Credit Emission Reductions (CERs). Their sale will be coordinated by ASI in partnership with Eco-Carbone (www.eco-carbone.com) and will provide the necessary additional income to realize the project. ASI will purchase Arabic gum from participating farmers, and redistribute the proceeds of CERs sale to them. The project will be implemented on desert land, which makes any leakage very unlikely, and the benefits brought to the population, along with other specific measures to fight fires, will significantly reduce the risk of non-permanence of the plantations.
ASI will be the pivot enterprise in the development of the project, with ICRISAT continued technical support and Eco-Carbone assistance for CERs marketing. The majority of the proposed planting falls under the framework of the World Bank Niger Community Action Program (CAP Niger), and the project will therefore also benefit from its technical support.
In case of successful implementation, the project will be highly replicable in Niger as well as in the whole Sahelian belt of sub-Saharan Africa.
THEMATIC INFORMATION
For more information on this project's thematic information (i.e., Biodiversity, Other Environmental Benefits and Risks, Socio-economic benefits and risks, Leakage, Risk of Non Permanence, and Additionality), please click here.
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