News - Articles - From the Rainforest Alliance

Working with Communities to Sequester Carbon, Protect Biodiversity and Provide Sustainable Livelihoods

In Guatemala’s Petén forest, members of the Uaxactún community rely on the sale of palm fronds, wood and other sustainably harvested products to conserve their lands and increase their livelihoods. But the forest also holds the potential to generate another renewable and lucrative resource: carbon credits. The sale of carbon credits provides communities in the Petén further incentive to keep their forests standing and conserve their valuable resources.

As businesses everywhere grapple with the need to offset their greenhouse gas emissions, communities like Uaxactún offer a solution. According to the 2006 Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change, deforestation causes 24 percent of carbon dioxide emissions and 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions globally. Building on the Rainforest Alliance’s ability to effectively set global standards for sustainable forestry, agriculture and tourism and our experience in certification auditing, training and creating market linkages, we are bringing to market verified conservation carbon credits that contribute to sustainable development.

“Curbing deforestation is a highly cost-effective way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions,” explains Rainforest Alliance chief of forestry Richard Donovan. “Helping communities manage their forests is less expensive than other methods of mitigating greenhouse gases, such as energy reduction efforts or clean technology development, and the added benefits include sustainable livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. It’s a win-win.”

The Rainforest Alliance is helping to mitigate the effects of greenhouse gas emissions by…

  1. Enabling sustainably operated farms, forests and tourism businesses to create and market carbon projects in the international market;
  2. Verifying greenhouse gas sequestration projects and emission reductions to internationally recognized standards; and,
  3. Connecting companies with community-run carbon credit projects that promote sustainable land use.

Helping Communities to Gain Access to the Carbon Credit Market

By making the international carbon offset market more accessible to communities in developing countries, the Rainforest Alliance is providing these communities with incentives to protect natural resources. We help community-based operations define their potential to provide carbon offsets, providing guidance on appropriate methodologies, steps to project development and carbon standards.

Principally but not exclusively, our services are directed toward operations certified by the Rainforest Alliance to the standards of the Forest Stewardship Council and Sustainable Agriculture Network or engaged with the Rainforest Alliance in providing sustainable tourism options.

Verifying Conservation Carbon Credits

Offset projects verified to standards that address not only greenhouse gas sequestration, but also biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods, are particularly valuable in today’s carbon market. The Rainforest Alliance conducts verification of farm and forest carbon projects for the Conservation, Climate & Biodiversity Alliance standards and the Plan Vivo system. Forest Stewardship Council certified plantations and natural forests and Rainforest Alliance Certified farms, as well as those engaged in a step-wise approach to achieving one of those certifications, are our first verification priority.

Carbon Services Connections for Companies

Once a farm, forest, hotel or other tourism business thoroughly analyzes its carbon emissions and establishes a reduction plan, the Rainforest Alliance can connect it to a carbon conservation project that meets its particular regional, industrial and development criteria. Carbon credits from sustainably managed land-use projects are credible investment options for responsible companies seeking to offset their carbon footprint.