facts

SPEKBOME | BACON TREES

Facts about your potential income.

An immense opportunity exists for the attainment of carbon credits in the restoration of degraded subtropical thickets in the Eastern and Western Cape. It has been estimated that approximately 1 000 000 hectares of semi-arid degraded subtropical thicket is available for restoration and hence carbon trading. The vegetation community across this vast area was historically rich in spekbome (Portulacaria afra), but was denuded through goat and sheep farming. Opportunities also exist for carbon credits from the restoration of non-spekboom thickets, but this is not entertained in this proposal.

Historical context

The Department of Water Affairs (previously Water Affairs and Forestry) commissioned a pilot (2004) project to investigate the feasibility of restoring degraded thicket and obtaining carbon credits (i.e. the Subtropical Thicket Restoration Programme). Using tax payer’s money and the Expanded Public Works Programme, a vast amount of knowledge, experience and intellectual capital has been built up in the quest for carbon credits. The mandate given at the time of the pilot project was to be the catalyst to enable the “kick-starting” of a massive restoration programme in the private sector. We are at this point now. It is important to acknowledge the government and particularly Water Affairs and Forestry for the substantial investment of the last 5 years.

Carbon Credits

Research has shown that it is possible to capture carbon at a rate of between 0.4 and 4.2 tonnes per hectare (by merely planting spekboom depending on site specifics and herbivory factors). The net carbon differential between degraded and intact spekboom thicket is somewhere in the range of 50-100 t C per hectare (which will take 30 years to accumulate). Carbon stocks for the various spekboom rich thickets have only been completed for a handful of areas. Urgent work is needed to calculate the carbon stocks for all areas where spekboom has been removed from the landscape.

If baselines have been adequately done and a rigorous and scientifically proven and accredited methodology is followed – carbon credits are entirely possible. There is a possibility (albeit slim and untested) to build a case for carbon credits for retaining intact subtropical thicket. The REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) principles content that it is wiser to keep the standing carbon stocks in forests and woodlands from being degraded. This implies that it is potentially possible to obtain carbon credits from safeguarding intact subtropical thicket. The scientific case needs to be built and the methodologies designed.

Carbon Leakage

According to the rules of the Clean Development Mechanism, all projects need to demonstrate clearly that during the attainment of carbon credits (in this case restoration), the practice that contributes to Green House Gas Emissions is not merely displaced to another area. Should this not be adequately proved – this will be construed as leakage to the system and the carbon credits will not become realised. In the context of Subtropical Thicket Restoration this can be precipitated through a simple relocation of goats, sheep or cattle that will reduce the percentage spekboom cover on another farm. In other words: while one farmer is trying to farm carbon and a farmer next door is trying to farm goats, sheep or cattle – carbon farming is being compromised.

Sustainable Land use Management

It is VITAL to circumvent the unfortunate scenario outlined above. Mohair South Africa and the SA Mohair Growers Association have shown strong leadership in this regard. The Draft Sustainable Mohair Industry Production Guidelines : Pre-farm Gate have recently been produced by EF de Beer. Through this initiative the industry is seeking to employ the GREEN CHOICE Branding for its products. There are a host of criteria that need to be met to ensure sustainable land use management. What the document doesn’t currently address is the retaining of habitat and the restoration of degraded areas. The previous degradation of subtropical thicket for small stock production would be classified as CLIMATE CRIMES in the current world view. It will be difficult to continually export the products given the estimated carbon footprint from historical degradation. Witness the wine export industry from Australia to Europe and the carbon footprint issues.

Mike Powell from Rhodes University is engaging with Dr. Heidi-Jane Hawkins from Conservation International in an attempt to get the Draft Sustainable Mohair Industry Production Guidelines: Pre-farm Gate to be truly sustainable and prevent a situation where exports to a climate change sensitive European market is not jeopardised. The degradation of the remaining subtropical thickets that are rich in spekboom, for a quick profit from small stock farmers cannot be allowed to happen.

Job Creation

Unlike the carbon credits created from the energy sector, restoration or reforestation carbon credits will require vast amounts of labour. Furthermore, the work is required in the rural areas where other work is scarce. Small towns like Pearston, Cookhouse, Willowmore, Calitzdorp will large solve the unemployment problem and create a ground swell of appreciation for the government – delivering on its promise to create jobs. To restore the full area of degradation would take a team of 12 people 5500 years to complete. This equates to 16 million person days. This doesn’t include all the technical, management and scientific person days – just labour. It would be a massive injection of capital into the rural economies in the form of wages. Typically a project of 5 000 hectares (ideal for a small town like Pearston) would bring in R72 000 000 in the form of wages and transport.

Carbon Equity

A unique opportunity exists. Unlike typical carbon development initiatives this proposal would seek to maximise the chance for carbon equity and minimise the chances for carbon colonialism. The level of education in the rural areas is largely poor and inadequate, unemployment high and many people rely on social welfare. Substance abuse and alcoholism is rife in the poor communities and children growing up in these environments will find it extremely difficult to escape the poverty trap. What we propose is a nodular form of development where the level of investment is matched by the social context of the area. For example the level of investment must match the level of unemployment to prevent mass migration into small communities and thereby create further social problems. At each development node (e.g. Pearston) a community education trust will be established to enable the children in these communities to access better education (afford better teachers, bursaries for better schools or tertiary education etc.).

Furthermore, the loss of the natural capital from the landscape (soil, nutrients, vegetation etc) has been precipitated by the white farming community over the last 200 years. The Government has neglected its duty to protect our agricultural resources (see CARA ACT 1984). It is morally indefensible to be rewarding the same farmers who degraded the landscape with carbon credits – while their workers are living as close to the bread line as legally possible. It should be mandatory that any white farmer who receives carbon credit benefits should create/contribute to a community education trust. Similarly an audit of basic living conditions needs to be completed on a farm by farm basis. Furthermore, farmers that have managed to keep their spekboom cover and the veld in good condition should be equally rewarded in the dividends from carbon credits on a pro-rata basis. If this is not done the farmers who have farmed sustainably will become disenchanted with the government for the perverse incentives that have been imposed and will be inclined to over-stock and deplete their natural resources – precipitating further degradation, further biodiversity loss and most importantly further carbon emissions. For every hectare of semi-arid subtropical thicket that gets severely degraded – approximately 185-360 tonnes of carbon dioxide is emitted. It follows that a farmer with 1000 hectares has a carbon footprint of 360 000 tonnes of carbon when the entire farm has been degraded. These carbon footprints will be calculated and farmers could be made accountable – merely through the buying power of the European consumer community in a climate change panic.

Land Reform

The government has failed dismally in making land reform sustainable. The necessary training and skills transfer have not accompanied the land transfer and there is a real danger that people will revert to subsistence farming on a large scale - rendering foreign revenue earning agricultural land into rural squatter camps. If 1000 hectares farms were not economically viable for 1 white family it is highly unlikely they will be economically or ECOLOGICALLY sustainable for 5, 10 or 20 black families. In the degraded thicket areas, land reform is exceptionally unfair because the recipients are being given and ecologically bankrupt estate. Financial disaster and ecological damage is inevitable. There is however a chance to reverse the trend. The funding for restoring degraded areas can provide the necessary income to land reform recipients. This will also allow the natural capital to return and buy some time for the training and skills transfer needed to become economically and ecologically sustainable. If the project developer subscribes to SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY, the land reform recipients could also receive an income for 30 years from a % of the carbon credit sales.

Carbon farming with spekbome

As with most farming enterprises, there are economies of scale and projects that are typically 1 000 hectares or more will be more viable than smaller ones. Transaction costs are high. For illustrative purposes,

A given farm of 1 000 hectares (degraded spekboom thicket) will cost approximately R4-5 million to restore. Taking the conservative approach and estimating the carbon accrual rate to be an AVERAGE of 2 tonnes per hectare per year (for a 30 year period), the crop would approximately 2000 tonnes carbon per annum = 7340 tonnes CO2e. If the price of carbon is $10 per tonne the farmer/developer could earn R440 000 per annum for 30 years (no inflation taken into account). This compares with R75000-R150 000 per annum for the same size property farming sheep or goats. As the price of carbon increases and as the size of the property increases, so the profits become more entertaining.

Path forward and what is needed

In order to obtain top dollar for the carbon on the international market (formal or voluntary) it is vital that the carbon is certified and verified according to a recognised standard. Traditionally all projects vied for the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) certificate. To date very few RESTORATION projects have achieved this internationally and it is well recognised that a major bottleneck exists. This has created a massive demand for the non-CDM certificates (e.g. Voluntary Carbon Certificate – VCS). This certification has been attempted within the pilot project but to date no accreditation has been achieved. To obtain accreditation a PROJECT DESIGN DOCUMENT (PDD) is required.

The attainment of the VCS certificate is CRITICAL to the entire thicket restoration project and therefore the carbon credit income stream (CDM certificate will suffice too). Once the VCS technical team has formally approved the methodology – it will be possible to replicate the business plans and implementation plans across the 1 000 000 hectares.