TerraVerde MicroForests and Eco₂Neutral Citizenship

The benefit offered to the sponsor/investor by the TerraVerde MicroForest Program is clearly the Beneficial ownership of a MicroForest. However, sponsoring a MicroForest is also a convenient and effective way for individuals, families, corporations or other investor groups to contribute to the effort to slow global warming by becoming Eco₂Neutral Citizens. To do this, the total carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted by the individual or group is estimated and a MicroForest is sponsored to balance this emission on an annual or lifetime basis. The concept of balancing or offsetting personal CO₂ emission by planting trees is not new. Here we apply the concept to the protection of an existing Forest to avoid deforestation and the consequent release of stored CO₂.

The Kyoto Protocol The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) was agreed in 1997 and entered into force in February 2005. This agreement was viewed as a first step toward moderating climate change whereby participating industrialized countries (Annex 1 Nations) committed to cap their emission of CO2 and other global warming gases at 5.2% below 1990 levels. If a country finds it is unable to meet its commitment then it can engage in CO2 “emissions trading” with another country which has been able to exceed its targeted emission reduction. This has given rise to projects being undertaken specifically to generate emission reductions or “credits” which are traded through international brokers. Many activities can generate emission credits including: wind farms, solar energy installations, hydro-electric, geothermal, and biomass energy projects which can all create credits by displacing fossil fuels. Other types of credits include those derived from improvements in energy efficiency or from carbon sequestration projects such as Afforestation and Reforestation which remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it away in the woody biomass of trees. According to the existing rules, emissions credits are granted only for planting trees (Afforestation or Reforestation) but not for preventing deforestation by Conservation of existing Forests thereby ensuring that the carbon already sequestered in them in not released. Several observers have expressed the view that excluding Conservation activities was a mistake since experience has shown that Reforestation and Afforestation projects do not work as well as expected. How Conservation of existing Forests might be included in the future is currently the subject of intense debate. A recent suggestion for industrialized countries to compensate developing countries for reducing their deforestation rates has received some support from leading scientists, the World Bank and the U.N. Although it is far from clear when and how it will be accomplished, it does appears likely that Conservation will eventually be included in a future international climate agreement.

The global population contributes to the world’s increasing CO₂ level by consuming energy in various ways during it’s daily activities. The level of individual emission is not equally distributed throughout the world. A simple estimate of the CO₂ emitted by an individual can be based on the total energy consumption of the individual’s country of residence and total population. On this basis (using the latest data for 2003 from CAIT¹¹), a citizen of N. America (USA & Canada) emits an average of 19.6 tons of CO₂ every year (tCO₂/yr); a citizen of Europe an average of 8.8 tCO₂/yr while an individual living in Central America & Caribbean (incl. Panama & Mexico) emits an average of 3.1 tCO₂/year. The average for citizens of Developed Countries (as listed by WRI¹²) is 11.4 tCO₂/yr compared to an overall global average of 4.1 tCO₂/yr.

To accommodate a range of existing Forest types located anywhere in the world without unnecessary complication, the MicroForests Program uses some average values for Eco₂Neutral Citizenship calculations. These Conservation MicroForests are based on the global average of total carbon stored above the ground in trees and vegetation plus that stored in the forest soils¹³ plus a small contribution for continuing sequestration. If a forest is cut down an average of 80% of the stored carbon is re-released into the atmosphere¹⁴ and therefore this is the net amount of carbon conservation achieved by protecting the Forest¹⁵.

For Lifetime Eco₂Neutral Citizenship (70 years), an individual living in a Developed Country and emitting an average of 11.4 tCO₂/yr requires a Conservation MicroForest of 8,500sq meters (about 2 acres)¹⁶.

Although the MicroForest Program focuses primarily on protecting existing Forests, the Program also endorses planting New Forests where these are composed of a mix of native species which will preserve local biodiversity and which are to be allowed to reach maturity or planting Analogue Forests¹⁷. For a New MicroForest our calculations are based on the estimated future CO₂ sequestration by the MicroForest.

Most of the available data indicate that the rate of absorption of CO₂ is substantially higher for young, fast growing New Forests compared to existing Mature Forests however it should be noted that according to some reports the benefit of this faster growth may be overwhelmed by a huge release of CO₂ which can occur when the soil is disturbed while preparing for planting the New Forest. It can take up to ten years for the New Forest to re-absorb all the CO₂ released at the time of planting and in some cases the CO₂ released during planting is never fully recaptured by the New Forest⁸.

Finally, investors should note that there is no intent to represent or imply here that the TerraVerde MicroForest Program and Eco₂Neutral Citizenship are qualified under the Kyoto Protocol as emissions trading or carbon offset vehicles. Our goal is simply to protect Frontier Forests, Mature Forests and established Secondary Growth Forests and in some cases to establish New Forests.

¹¹Climate Analysis Indicators Tool (CAIT) Version 4.0. (Washington, DC: World Resources Institute, 2006).
¹²World Resources Institute, Washington, DC 20002, USA.
¹³Global Carbon Stocks in Vegetation & Soils from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change “Special Report on Land Use, Land Use Change & Forestry” 2000.
¹⁴Houghton R.A. et al., 1983. Cited in “Evaluating the Sequestration Potential of Tropical Forests” Butcher et al., Donald Bren School of Environment Science and Management.
¹⁵This approach is similar to the example provided at the “U.S. Climate Technology Cooperation Gateway”.
¹⁶Estimating the size of a MicroForest required for Eco₂Neutral Citizenship is subject to significant errors and uncertainties. The average values used by the TerraVerde Foundation for MicroForest calculations are based on values reported in the scientific literature and as new information becomes available these values may be revised. Investors should remember our primary Mission is Forest protection -- these numbers are secondary to this objective.
¹⁷An Analogue Forest attempts to re-create the structure and ecological functions of the local natural forest ecosystem by planting an appropiate mix of trees and other plants which can also provide the forest farmer a range of products for personal consumption or sale.