3 March 2010: The World Bank has presented Africa’s first large-scale forestry project to be registered under the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). The announcement was made on the margins on the annual Africa Carbon Forum, which is taking place in Nairobi, Kenya, from 3-5 March 2010.

The Humbo Assisted Natural Regeneration Project will bring environmental, economic and social benefits to poor communities in Ethiopia and is expected to cut an estimated 880,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere over the next 30 years. Through reforestation, the project will also build the communities’ resilience against climate impacts. The project has already restored over 2,700 hectares of degraded land using Farmer Managed Natural Forest Regeneration (FMNR), which encourages new growth from tree stumps previously felled but still living. Using this method, an ‘underground forest’ has been unearthed and indigenous, biodiverse forest species, some of which are endangered, have been restored to the region.
Through the duration of the project, the World Bank’s BioCarbonFund will purchase 165,000 tons worth of carbon credits. The sale of carbon credits under the BioCarbon Fund will provide an income stream of over US$700,000 to the local communities over a minimum of ten years. Further revenue will be available to the community from the sale of carbon credits not purchased by the World Bank, as well as from the sale of timber products from designated woodlots in the project. [World Bank Press Release]