Kasigau Corridor carbon offset project

Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project

This pioneering programme in Kenya is the first Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) project to gain Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) validation. Also validated to Gold Level of the Climate, Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standard, it is implementing critical activities for reducing deforestation while creating local sustainable development opportunities and protecting valuable ecosystems.

The project is located in one of Conservation International’s Global Hotspots – areas holding especially high numbers of endemic species, yet facing extreme and immediate threats. In addition to a range of plant species, The Kasigau Corridor project is home to five mammal species that are considered endangered, vulnerable or threatened: African elephant, cheetah, lion, African hunting dog and Grevy’s zebra.

The Project

Situated in the Taita Taveta District, Kenya, between the Tsavo

East and Tsavo West National Parks, the Kasigau Corridor

project avoids unplanned deforestation and degradation of

tropical forests. This second phase of the project is on

13 blocks of land owned by Indigenous Community

Ownership Groups.

The project developer, Wildlife Works, has launched this

carbon project having already spent 10 years building a local

consumer clothing business that created jobs, built schools

and provided economic benefits to communities, in order

to conserve endangered and threatened wildlife.

Wildlife Works Carbon was a natural extension to this work,

enabling the provision of a revenue stream from bio diverse

forest protection.

The project reduces carbon dioxide emissions by protecting

natural carbon sinks that, in the absence of the project,

would have been deforested and/or degraded for subsistence

agriculture, typically using slash and burn techniques to

grow maize. The area primarily consists of low density

forestland, shrub land, and grassland savannah. Historically,

deforestation in the areas adjacent to the project areas

was primarily driven by the local farmers from the Taita and

Duruma Tribes. These communities converted the land to

cropland, typically by first degrading the land for the illegal

charcoal trade, followed by subsistence agriculture. The

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deforestation and degradation mostly began in the late 1980s,

largely due to more families moving into the area to harvest as

the more fertile hill top lands could no longer meet the needs

of the population.

Much of the farming in the area is unsustainable with no long

term management of the soil. This, combined with insufficient

and unpredictable rain patterns, with rain often very localised,

has led farmers to continually move to new plots in order to

find a better crop yield, clearing more forest.

Prior to Wildlife Works’ arrival in the area in 1997, this

agricultural conversion occurred in the areas adjacent to the

project in a heavy and visible manner, and even into some

project areas. Deforestation even continues significantly in

the area adjacent to the project today, illustrating that, in the

absence of the project, this activity would continue.

Monitoring carbon for verification

Carbon Finance and REDD+

REDD+ projects are essential in the international effort to

combat climate change as deforestation and forestry

degradation account for approximately 18% of global

carbon emissions, more than the transport and aviation

sectors combined.

There are a number of different causes of deforestation but

The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate

Change (UNFCCC) states that the most common direct cause

of deforestation is agriculture, with subsistence farming

allegedly responsible for almost 50%. Intensive cattle

grazing – considered an agricultural cause of deforestation

- often prevents the growth of young trees and shrubs, which

would otherwise help to naturally repopulate deforested

areas.

This means that combating deforestation and degradation

caused by subsistence agriculture in a region such as this, is

crucial to making a significant difference to global greenhouse

gas emissions, while also having the added benefits of

biodiversity protection and community development.

Activities to Reduce Deforestation and Create Sustainable Development

Wildlife Works has implemented a wide range of sustainable

development initiatives in the project area and adjacent land

to reduce deforestation, with much of the focus on influencing

behavioural change through agroforestry projects, but also

through physical protection with unarmed ranger patrols.

As the carbon project builds, Wildlife Works is committed

to expanding and creating a new range of innovative

co-benefits for the communities, all of which are developed in

close consultation with community committees.


Agriculture

In order to assist the local communities in their move away

from subsistence agriculture and deforestation, Wildlife

Works has established an organic greenhouse at the project

in addition to multiple nurseries with more in development.

The greenhouse grows citrus trees and agroforestry

species such as Neem and Moringa oliefera to meet farmer’s

medicinal, nutritional and fuel wood needs. Each nursery,

employing approximately five people, is responsible for

working with their immediate community to plan and

implement the crops, while Wildlife Works provides

training. In addition, the nurseries are building a business

around Jojoba planting. The oil from Jojoba seeds is quite

valuable and is used in the cosmetics industry and as

biodiesel fuel. Community members are raising the plants in

the nurseries to later plant and harvest while Wildlife Works

will assist in providing market links for the farmers to sell the

seeds.

The local population’s need for farm land has also been

addressed by the establishment of a land cooperative on

5,000 acres. This used land that had been cleared before

Wildlife Works began its work.

Elephants on grassland at Kasigau Corridor

Evidence of deforestation adjacent to Kasigau Corridor

Forest and Biodiversity Monitoring

An important part of the project is the physical protection of the

land. Wildlife Works has set up several ranger stations around

the project areas. Each station has between eight and 12

Wildlife Works rangers, recruited and trained from the local

communities. There are nearly 80 rangers in total employed

by the project currently. The primary role of the rangers is to

protect the land from deforestation, including illegal charcoal

production and cattle grazing. There is also a High Conservation

Value (HCV) team responsible for tracking and monitoring the

HCV species, including African elephant, cheetah and lion.

Wildlife Works is also expanding a partnership with the

Kasigau Development Trust to create a new team of

community scouts, which will protect wildlife that remains on

Mt. Kasigau, just outside the project area.

Organic Clothing Factory

One of Wildlife Works’ core projects from the beginning has

been the construction of an eco factory. People from the

local community were employed during construction and

now young women from the community are employed to sew

organic cotton clothing, which is exported to the US and

Europe for sale on the internet and in fashion boutiques.

The factory is in the process of expanding and is expected to

create several more employment opportunities.


Eco charcoal production

Forest at Kasigau Corridor

Reforestation

An additional activity of the project is a three year reforestation

project on the slopes of Mt. Kasigau to plant 20,000

indigenous hardwood trees. These trees are not included in

the emission reduction calculations, but it is a valuable initiative

to help replace trees cut down for charcoal production

and construction over the past years. The community

members involved in the monitoring and implementation

of the project are rewarded financially for helping ensure

its permanence.

School Construction and Bursary Scheme

Wildlife Works has already built 18 classrooms throughout the

district and a partner has established a bursary programme

which has sent dozens of children to high school. A plan

is in place to send at least five new students a year through

four-year secondary school programmes and on to college

or university. A school construction and maintenance fund

will provide funding every year to seed school construction

and maintenance projects in the area.

Eco Charcoal and Fuel Wood

In Africa an estimated 90% of the entire continent’s

population uses wood-based fuel, such as charcoal,

for cooking.

In order to avoid wood being taken in an unsustainable and

ecologically damaging way, the project has started using

sustainably managed wood from the greenhouses for some

fuel supply. In addition, it has initiated an extensive project to

explore the large scale production of carbon neutral charcoal

derived from bush trimmings, allowing the local community

to be self-sufficient in fuel wood without having to degrade

any of the land. Women at the eco factory

INDIAN OCEANTANZANIA

ETHIOPIA

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SOMALIA

Biodiversity

The Project Area, part of the greater Tsavo ecosystem, is on

the northern most border of one of Conservation International’s

Global Hotspots – The Eastern Arc Mountains hot spot.

Acting as a corridor between two national parks; the project

zone contains almost all the species present in these

parks and qualifies as an area of High Conservation Value.

Specifically, the project area is home to a complete dryland

ecosystem including five mammal species that are considered

endangered, vulnerable or threatened under International

Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines: African

elephant, cheetah, lion, African hunting dog, and a globally

significant population of Grevy’s zebra.

Wildlife Works has employed unarmed rangers to prevent

illegal access to the project area and to monitor the forest,

wildlife populations and ecosystem health. Previously much

of the wildlife has either been poached or scared away by

human activity, specifically overgrazing of cattle. However,

the income available from the carbon project will make it

unnecessary for local communities to lease the land for

cattle grazing by others. This, in addition to a full ranger

patrol, should enable the historically bio-diverse habitat to

return, not only benefiting the ecosystem but also increasing

the ecotourism potential for the area and communities.


Project Location: Kasigau Corridor is situated in the Taita

Taveta District, Kenya, between the Tsavo East and Tsavo

West National Parks.

Carbon Calculations

The Kasigau Corridor project uses the VCS approved

methodology element VM0009 – Methodology for Avoided

Mosaic Deforestation of Tropical Forests Version 1.0. It is

the first REDD project (of any methodology) to be validated

to the VCS. The VCS rules require that carbon credits sold

from projects like this must adhere to ‘ex-post’ accounting

whereby credits verified can only be from carbon

sequestered in the past, not predicted for the

future (ex-ante).

The project area for the calculation of carbon emission

reductions from the Phase 2 project area covers 169,741

hectares of dryland forest land, owned by 13 Indigenous

Community Ownership Groups.

The project is validated by an independent qualified

auditor accredited to audit to VCS criteria. Additionally, the

project is validated and verified to the Climate, Community and

Biodiversity (CCB) Standard and has achieved Gold Level

status due to the biodiversity significance of the area.

The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project is monitored annually

by Wildlife Works and community employees to produce

documentation for annual carbon accounting verifications.

Kasigau Corridor carbon offset project

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