The Clean Development Mechanism Worldwide and in Brazil - Implementing Environmental and Resource Management - page 75

The opportunities in the forestry sector for carbon sequestration and enhancement
sinks is considered to be more promising, even though at the current state it is not
playing a major role. According to Seroa da Motta (2002) large areas of degraded
land, unsuitable for further agricultural activities, are ideal for forest plantations
aiming at the production of pulp, timber and biomass for energy. Silvicultural
plantations are seen as an important option to sequester carbon. However, there
are social and environmental risks associated with monoculture plantations, fur-
ther, the impacts of climate change might lower the benefits of silviculture planta-
tions (Fearnside 1998). Therefore, the avoidance of deforestation might be the first
best solution and more efficient than any other sequestration form (Fearnside
2001, Seroa da Motta 2002), as Brazil's major source of carbon dioxide emissions
is related to deforestation of the Amazon Rainforest. In this context, Fearnside's
(2001) proposed that Brazil could accept emission limitations in order to benefit
from the preservation of the Amazon rainforest with its high biological diversity
as a natural carbon sink under the International Emission Trade regime. This also
has to be taken into account on the global level, given the extent of the Amazon
Rainforest's influence on the Earth's climate system and the conservation of bio-
diversity.
Since the Bali conference at the end of 2007, the discussion about avoiding de-
forestation, as a further option for climate change mitigation, again received
higher public attention. Referred to as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and
Degradation (REDD), the actual design of such a mechanism is not yet decided.
However, REDD could play an important role in integrating developing countries
into measures for climate change mitigation after 2012, especially those that cur-
rently are not considered attractive for activities under the CDM.
8.5 Case Study: The Plantar Project
Central activities of the Plantar project in Minas Gerais (Brazil) are the continua-
tion of using charcoal as a reducing agent in pig-iron plants and the reforestation
with eucalyptus as a sustainable source of charcoal production. The main objective
is to generate carbon credits that can be commercialized in form of Certified
Emission Reductions under the Clean Development Mechanism. As one of the
projects in World Bank's Prototype Carbon Fund, it is controversial due to possi-
ble environmental risks and socioeconomic consequences. The project consists of
three main components. The first constituent deals with the carbon storage in
eucalyptus plantations, while the second part addresses the avoidance of a fuel
switch from charcoal to coke. Improvements of kilns for charcoal production are
the subject of the third component. In total, the project aims to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases by approximately 12,8 Mio tons of CO 2 -equivalents.
Involving new eucalyptus plantations of 23,100 ha, the first component is a
carbon sink project. During the first seven years of the project, every year 3,300
ha are planted. After a seven years growing period, the eucalyptus fields are har-
vested. The timber is then converted into charcoal, corresponding to the compa-