4 August 2009: The World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund will purchase 500,000 tons of emission reductions from a reforestation project in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), generating environmental benefits to the local community as well social services.

By reforesting 4,200 hectares of degraded land, the Ibi Bateke Carbon Sink Plantation Project will trap an estimated 2.4 million tons of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years, generating emission reductions that will be sold to finance the expansion of the project, as well as health, education and agro-forestry activities in the local community. The degraded lands will be transformed into a managed forest of acacia, eucalyptus and indigenous species that will sequester carbon dioxide and contribute to the supply of fuel wood for Kinshasa. [World Bank press release]