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Updated study: CDM Carbon Sink Tree Plantations - A case study in Tanzania
14th March 2011

Report coverIn December 2009, Timberwatch released a preliminary report by Blessing Karumbidza & Wally Menne titled: Potential Impacts of Tree Plantation Projects under the CDM - An African Case Study.  After visits to the site of the proposed Idete CDM tree plantation project in southern Tanzania in 2010, and gathering additional information from other sources, the author's findings have been documented in a comprehensive 90-page report, which includes numerous photographs.

Available online and without charge from Timberwatch:http://timberwatch.org

Further information

This new report documents the project in the Mufindi district of Iringa province in southern Tanzania. It tackles questions concerning the sustainability and viability of alien invasive tree plantations, being used as carbon emission offset projects under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Timberwatch has studied the social, cultural, political and economic impacts of industrial tree plantations in South Africa and Swaziland, and has concluded that monoculture tree plantations are non-sustainable from many points of view, even with market-based conservation measures such as Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in place. This research showed major problems with land being alienated from displaced local communities, poor working conditions, the destruction of biodiversity resources upon which communities depend, reduced water availability, and many other direct and indirect effects that impact negatively on local livelihoods.
 

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