Launch of Forest Carbon Standards in New Languages Reaches Key Audiences
Multiple Benefit Carbon Standards Now Accessible to More Project
Managers and Investors
April 16, 2009 – Arlington, VA –The Climate, Community & Biodiversity
Alliance (CCBA) today released translations of its rigorous forest carbon standards
in two additional languages, Portuguese and Japanese. The Second Edition
standards, now available in a total of six languages, will help reach two key
audiences including many of the people directly involved in forest carbon projects
in Brazil and the growing number of carbon offset investors in Japan.
The Climate,
Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standards provide a set of
stringent and verifiable criteria to determine the ability of a forest project
to reduce or remove greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while simultaneously providing
social and additional environmental benefits. Independent third-party auditors
verify that a project satisfies all required criteria, which demonstrates that
the project will mitigate climate change, conserve wildlife and natural ecosystems
and improve local livelihoods.
"We are delighted that the CCB Standards are now able to reach an even
wider audience," said Joanna Durbin, Director of the Climate, Community
and Biodiversity Alliance. "We strive to maximize the access to these
standards and these new translations address a critical audience of project
developers in Brazil and buyers of multiple-benefit carbon offsets in Japan." The
CCB Standards are also available in English, Chinese, French and Spanish.
Within
the borders of Brazil, a Portuguese speaking country, there are approximately
3.3 million square kilometers of Amazon Rainforest – the largest in
the world. When forests are cut, they release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Few people realize that burning and clearing of tropical forests globally
emits 20 percent of total greenhouse gases that cause climate change – more
than all the world’s cars, trucks and airplanes combined.
Deforestation
in Brazil accounts for almost 60 percent of the country’s
GHG emissions – making it the world’s fourth largest emitter
after China, the US and Indonesia. The CCB Standards demonstrate to offset
investors that forest projects provide multiple benefits and command a premium
price for the sale of offsets. The availability of the CCB Standards in multiple
languages facilitates the design of new projects that curb climate change
and adds a new level of transparency.
"The CCB Standards were
adopted by the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve project to avoid deforestation,
which is being implemented by our government with local and international
partners. This way we can make sure that the resources obtained by REDD (Reduced
Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation) projects meet their goals of
providing concrete benefits to indigenous and other local communities, who
are the true guardians of the forest", said Nádia
Ferreira, Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development of Amazonas. "It
is important to have a tool like the CCB Standards in Portuguese because
Brazil has an enormous potential for REDD projects," she added.
In Japan,
a growing number of environmentally and socially conscious investors are
becoming aware that the CCB standards will help them to identify projects
that meet their emissions reductions and social responsibility goals.
"CCB
is becoming an international standard as an effective tool to demonstrate
that projects generate multiple benefits to community and biodiversity while
reducing GHG," says Dr. Hozuma Sekine Project Manager, Science and Safety
Policy Research Division at the Mitsubishi Research Institute. "The
scope of CCB is wide from forest to agriculture, and I look forward to CCB
being adopted for various land-use projects around the world." Mitsubishi
Research Institute and Conservation International have been designing a reforestation
project in the Philippines using CCB Standards. The project is working to
demonstrate clear biodiversity and community benefits in while it mitigates
climate change.
Presently, over 100 land-based projects around the world are
using the CCB Standards to improve project design and generate compelling
multiple benefits. A number of major corporations are now using CCB carbon
for their offsets, including Marriott International, Disney Company and 3M.
The
Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) is a Conservation
International convened partnership between leading companies and NGOs seeking
to foster the development of forest protection and restoration activities around
the world that deliver significant climate, local community and biodiversity
benefits. CCBA members include six companies – BP, Intel, SC Johnson,
Sustainable Forestry Management, Weyerhaeuser and GFA Envest – and five
NGOs – Conservation International, CARE, Rainforest Alliance, The Nature
Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society. Visit our website and
download the standards at www.climate-standards.org
Media Contact:
Katrin Olson
Conservation International
Office: 703-341-2768
Mobile: 202-549-3953
Email: kolson@conservation.org |
