|
|
Back to Project Summary Page
China Pearl River Watershed Management
Biodiversity
The Guangxi Zhang autonomous region included in the project is very rich in biodiversity. The flora is the third highest of all Chinese provinces in diversity and it has the second highest number of endangered and protected plant species.
The project will change barren land and shrubland into a multiple-use evergreen broadleaved forest and coniferous forest. The reforested land will restore the connectivity of forests between the two nature reserves encompassed by the project (Mulun and Jiuwandashan Reserves in Huanjiang County). The restoration of connectivity will provide corridors to wildlife movement and increase the effective size of all the protected forests. It will thus directly benefit biodiversity by enlarging the surrounding forested habitat for birds and small mammals, and lead to an increase of the abundance and distribution of the regions' native biodiversity. The reforestation will also provide a buffer zone around the restored corridors that is not hostile to the native biodiversity, and incorporate currently unprotected species. Additionally, the forest will provide fruits/seeds and leaves as food for the primates and other wildlife, and will serve in Huanjiang County as roosting/staging sites for bird migration. The afforestation along the Pearl River will also improve local ecosystem quality.
The provision of firewood to local communities, the sale of forest products, and the concomitant support for the development of biogas systems by the government should also reduce pressure on the neighboring reserves. It will in particular reduce the use of protected trees and other plants, and activities like poaching, forest fires, illegal logging, and non-timber forest products collection in the reserve, which are key threats to reserve and wildlife management. The larger GIFDCP project will enable improved enforcement of regulations in the nature reserves themselves, which will enhance the effectiveness of all measures taken.
The project will introduce only one non-native species, Eucalyptus, in a small area of about 1000 ha. This species should not threaten local biodiversity as it has proved non-invasive and no risks have been identified over the last few decades it was grown in China.
Seeds will be collected from local and/or regional parent tree gardens and seedlings will be generated in temporary on-site nurseries, or seedlings will be directly purchased from local and/or regional nurseries. The species concerned are widespread in the region and will not be harmed in the process. Collecting from planted trees, however, will reduce genetic variability. Variability will be taken into consideration and maximized as possible during collection.
Other Environmental Benefits and Risks
The tree species selected will be planted in mixed species arrangements to minimize risks (fire, insect and disease) and maximize environmental benefits. For example, due to the fire resistance of broadleaf species and their added environmental benefits (such as biodiversity conservation, soil erosion control), P. massoniana and C. lanceolata will be planted on the less accessible upper part of the slopes; conversely, coniferous species which have higher economic value (higher resin and timber price) will be planted in more accessible areas.
The site preparation will not employ traditional site burning and overall ploughing so as to prevent soil erosion and to protect existing carbon stocks.
Over the years the forest plantations will improve the control of soil erosion, through the production of a soil cover of both foliage and woody litter and the direct stabilization of soils through roots. Soil erosion is a major problem, especially in Cangwu County where some project areas are almost bare land. The afforestation will also improve watershed management along the Pearl River. Other environmental services include the amelioration and regulation of hydrological flows in the immediate project area; building and improvement of nutrient cycling within the soil; and potential reduction in local climatic oscillations.
In fact, the project might have positive spillover effects even outside the project boundary, as good practices and techniques developed and adopted in this project could be extended to other regions.
A monitoring plan will be prepared and implemented based on IPCC Good Practice Guidance for Land Use, Land Use Change and Forestry. In particular, the monitoring will use line transect surveys in sample project sites for wildlife monitoring, and litter weight for the monitoring of water storage capacity.
Socio-economic benefits and risks
The project activities are expected to improve local livelihoods and increase the mean net annual income per capita by 23.8% compared to the year 2004. First, the project will create employment opportunities, reserved to local farmers, for planting, weeding, harvesting and resin collecting (coming at a later stage when trees are grown). Employment will be both temporary, with around 5 million person-days employment during the project lifetime, and permanent with the creation of 40 long-term job positions.
The other direct sources of income will be the sale of non-timber products and benefits from CERs transactions. This income will belong solely to the local farmers in case of farmer cooperatives (around 11% of the total project area), which would then invest and fully carry out the project, from preparation to monitoring. In case of shareholding arrangements between local farmers and forest farms/companies, income would be allocated according to these contractual arrangements, to be signed at the start of the project's activities. Local farmers would then provide lands and labor and firms would invest, and manage and monitor the plantation. The extent of each arrangement will be decided based on the preference of local farmers and project management needs. Participation is voluntary and farmers had the priority for choosing among these options after ensuring that they have fully understood the mechanism and related benefits and risks. In both cases technical training, consultation, monitoring, and assessment would be provided, as described below.
Farmers will derive additional benefits from the improved productivity from stabilized hydrological flows.
Farmers will be organized by forming cooperatives voluntarily under the coordination of communities to reduce risk of free riding and of unfair allocation from CERs, and ensure the effective long-term management of plantations. This organization will entail close interaction between individuals, communities, companies and local government, strengthening communication and support networks. It will therefore significantly improve social collaboration.
Training for the communities and farmers will be an important part of the project. The local forestry agencies and forestry companies will organize it, both on- and off-site, to assist communities in understanding and evaluating the issues of hosting the project, and in activities such as seed and seedling selection, nursery management, site preparation, planting models and Integrated Pest Management.
The initial design of the project activities such as management options, tree species and planting models has also been based on numerous consultations, both formal and informal, with individuals, communities and relevant organizations.
A standardized methodology has been developed for plantation establishment and management quality control, measuring, monitoring and verifying socio-economic impacts of the project. Information will be compiled by project participants on a yearly basis.
Leakage
The project will not displace any local farming activities since the proposed lands to be used for afforestation are little productive barren lands and are not used as agricultural lands. Grazing is also uncommon in the project sites and currently few local farmers raise livestock outside houses.
Currently, local farmers are only allowed to collect dead wood and some living branch biomass as fuelwood. Farmers will be able to continue this type of fuelwood collecting without compromising the growth of trees established under the project. They will therefore not need to go outside project boundaries to collect fuelwood. Leakage is expected to be negligible for the project.
Risk of Non Permanence
Farmer cooperatives and forestry farms involved in the project will be in charge of managing the plantations established under the project after its completion. They will benefit from the first generation of the plantation and also have an economic incentive to reinvest in planting. Widespread use of bank accounts among local people in Cangwu County will also facilitate the channeling and tracking of carbon payments to beneficiaries and make them benefit effectively from the carbon sequestration. On the legal side, China Forestry Law obliges the replanting after harvesting to be carried out immediately (no later than the second year). These elements will ensure incentive to manage the forest resource in a sustainable manner over the long term.
Two additional measures independent from the project reduced pressure on remaining forests and will also mitigate the risk of future loss of carbon in the project: (i) Government subsidies for construction of bio-digesters in recent years have spread the use of biogas in Cangwu County; and (ii) the collection of fuelwood outside of permits is strictly prohibited and this ban has been correctly enforced through support of hefty fines on contraveners.
This project is also the first life-size LULUCF project in China. As such, national, provincial and county authorities intend to make this demonstration a success, which will also increase likelihood of compliance with contract and Kyoto provisions.
Additionality
Project sites are located in very remote and degraded watersheds, and agriculture and timber planting activities are not commercially attractive due to the low land productivity and high product transport cost. Natural regeneration is also very unlikely, because dense grass cover prevents seeds from landing on the mineral soil and competes with young seedling if any. In addition there are few seed sources that can disperse onto the project sites due to the large piece of lands without adjacent forest.
Currently the risks of timber market prices, especially in such remote areas with high transportation costs, are perceived to be too high by the project participants, and the chance to get commercial loans from banks for the purpose of afforestation activities is low (loans for agricultural activities are much easier to obtain).
Although both national and regional governments have set an overall development goal for forestry development, the goal is not legally binding, and the funds for this are limited and primarily not focused on the regions where the proposed project takes place. Government funds have not been available for reforestation in this region for many years. Additionally, the last 3 World Bank loans to Guangxi did not support afforestation in the region, and overseas loans from other sources have also gone to more economically attractive areas.
|
|
|
