West African countries began lobbying for expanded incentives to preserve existing forests in discussions that began last week in
Officials from Ghana’s Forestry Commission are encouraging a plan to harvest submerged timber in the country’s north, Lake Volta, and said the proposal would help avoid carbon emissions and environmental damage associated with above-ground timber harvesting. The cost would be higher than traditional logging, but the new technique could make up the price through carbon credits, a means designed by the Kyoto protocol that financially rewards projects that avoid the harmful emissions.
However, the current Kyoto protocol allows for credit only if the timber is used in place of non-renewable energy sources, says Arne Eik, a senior analyst with London-based carbon-market consulting firm Carbon Point. He says the Ghanaian project, which plans to sell the timber on the open market, would not qualify.
"That might very well be a wise strategy from an environmental point of view, and then we can talk about, instead of using it for energy purposes, we can talk about avoided deforestation, because then you can use these trees instead of cutting down other trees, and that is the idea here," he said. "But under the current Kyoto protocol you cannot claim carbon credits for doing such a thing because claiming avoided deforestation is not a part of the Kyoto protocol."
Eik says if they are successful, this sort of initiative will become more common.
"It could very well be that after 2012 the regime will be different and you will then get a regime where you claim such carbon credits," he said. "This is a very, very hot issue in the negotiations on what kind of protocol we will get after 2012. And from an African point of view, this is undoubtedly an important issue."