Monsoon Carbon’s CEO Angus Mcewin has co-authored a paper with Richard McNally and Tim Holland on the potential for carbon credits from mangroves in Vietnam.
The full text can be downloaded from ResearchGate for free.
Carbon Credits from Mangroves in Vietnam
The report concludes that:
1) Individual and Community Benefits must Outweigh Opportunity Costs
For mangrove projects to be successful, the benefits to individual households and communities of protecting mangrove forests must be sufficient to outweigh the opportunity costs. Much of this will depend on the carbon revenue earned per hectare and the number of hectares of mangrove forest allocated per household. This will tend to be higher for REDD+ than A/R. Mangrove forests have an advantage over other forest types in that they have a low timber value and a relatively high value in terms of non-timber forest products and other environmental services. They also have a relatively high GHG removal capacity.
2) VCS Approach Appears Preferable
At the current price of temporary certified emissions reductions (tCERs) and given the availability of eligible land, it is not recommended that an A/R CDM mangrove project be undertaken in Viet Nam. The VCS A/R approach is more attractive due to simpler methodological and technical requirements, land eligibility, higher prices, ability to deal with impermanence and the inclusion of more carbon pools.
3) Consideration of Non-Carbon Benefits
The decision to pursue mangrove protection and/or restoration needs to be made in the context of the non-carbon benefits of mangrove forests, in particular storm protection and as fishery nurseries. Further valuation of these critical ecological services needs to be carried out.
4) Potential in REDD+
VCS-REDD+ offers potential for mangrove protection in Viet Nam. The avoidance of planned deforestation (APD) due to land re-zoning or planned development, such as conversion of mangrove forests for shrimp aquaculture, offers the greatest potential. Further assessment and evidence of historical and current deforestation and degradation of mangroves are needed.
5) Sector Wide Approach Required
To bypass the restrictively narrow project-level eligibility criteria and accounting, a sector-wide approach with government-led programmatic activities is recommended to conserve and restore mangroves. Funding may come from REDD+ partnership or ODA commitments, both for performancebased mitigation and for adaptation. This idea should be explored as a follow-up to this report.
6) Collate Further Information on GHG Removal Capacity of Mangrove Species
The calculation of GHG removal requires a suite of scientific data including species-specific data. Information on the biology of mangrove forests in Viet Nam, particularly the GHG removal capacity of mangrove species common in Viet Nam, needs to be collected.
7) Collate Further Information on Mangroves
There is an immediate need to collate information on mangrove areas in Viet Nam by location, ownership, species and status (including age), as well as data on intertidal mudflats suitable for mangrove plantations and their classification and management framework.
8) Management is Key
Most of Viet Nam’s mangrove forests are protected forests managed by Forest Management Boards. An important issue for all mangrove carbon projects is management with regards to land tenure, community collaboration and sharing of benefits. There have been several projects in Viet Nam focusing on community-based management of mangroves, including valuable lessons learnt which can be built upon.
Other Carbon Credit Opportunities
Vietnam has many potential carbon project types. This paper was one of a series examining the opportunities in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
From a base in Singapore, Monsoon Carbon was created to assist to incubate and grow carbon credit projects in Vietnam and across Asia. Please contact us if you’d like further information.
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