more trees

a unique and honest alternative to traditional carbon offset services

BOM's partner program, the More Trees carbon project, understands carbon sequestration and offsetting as a component of a holistic forest conservation package. Sequestration and offsetting are done on the basis of restoring lost forest and are structured so that conservation will be permanent, through establishment of appropriate economic incentives, systems and businesses for residents of forest areas.

We are dedicated to creating a straight-forward carbon sequestration program that compliments and helps support these proven incentives for reforestation, rather than financial derivatives. We do not trade in "avoided destruction", due to the inherent ambiguity of the concept and difficulty in measurement. Instead, our program results are easy to see, clearly measured and effectively avoid forest destruction. Our facilitation of a direct connection between the carbon credit buyer and the forest residents makes the More Trees Carbon Project an unique and honest alternative to traditional carbon offset services.

background

The first indigenous specie nursery in Mozambique after the Civil War was established by Allan Schwarz at Mez- imbite in 1996. This nursery, along with its community-based satellite nurseries, has been the largest producer of indigenous trees in the country since its establishment. Effective community-based reforestation systems have been developed and monitored over more than ten years, providing substantial data for program successes.

As an essential part of forest management, timber and non-timber forest resources are used in the production of consumer-ready products (such as BOM skin care products), the benefits of which incentivize on-site restoration and conservation of the forest. Activities have also included children's participation in hands-on environmental educational programs.

Activities produce a net gain of biomass within target communities, making them carbon positive and thus opening the opportunity for trade in carbon offsets.

what we do

• Acquire land rights for reforestation in joint venture with local communitites
• Take inventories of degraded lands to establish baselines
• Collect seeds, construct and operate nurseries, plant trees
• Measure carbon absorbed and stored
• Manage forests in community joint ventures
• Document and verify tree planting activities and consequent carbon credits
• Reinvest in sustainable community-based economic activities to further incentivize forest conservation

forest management

In order to guarantee that the trees planted will survive to store the promised carbon, they need to be managed in a sustainable way. Threats to the target forest are dominantly slash and burn agriculture, firewood collection, burning either accidently or in the process of hunting, and commercial timber use.

The community joint-venture forestry programs include a comprehensive plan for incentivizing responsibility for the forest through the productive and non-destructive use of natural resources. These include the commercializa- tion of non-timber forest products such as honey and wax, the production of natural oils and soaps by Bio Óleos de Maxixe, and the use of botanicals for medicines and body care products. Controlled thinning in forests for carbon management provides some firewood; some natural oils are converted to diesel and illumination oils to reduce the need for other energy. Activities also include the sustainable use of small volumes of timber, well within calculated yields, for high-value consumer-ready products. Most importantly, key emphasis is placed on the con- version of slash-and-burn agriculture to permaculture/agro-forestry.

It is through the success of these management programs that we now have a waiting list of communities wishing to collaborate with us, and expand activities to restore degraded lands and abandoned family farms to forests for carbon.

documentation and verification

Every step in our programs is documented and transparent, with the carbon purchaser or their agents invited to verify exactly what we are doing. All calculations and methods are made publicly available to ensure transparency, and comparability with other companies. More Trees is consistently straight-forward about what we do; we only include carbon that can be easily measured, perceived and understood by our clientele as a part of what we sell.

our carbon offset certification

A Carbon Sequestration Offset Certificate includes the following information:

• Name of executor (planter of trees)
• Location, coordinates and directions on how to get there
• Planting regime, including number and species of trees planted and projected to maturity
• Area covered by planting and activity dates
• Tons sequestered over a specified growth time (10 years)
• Photographs of the target area

benefits and their distribution

Costs of the program are paid through carbon sequestration offset sales, the largest component of which is sala- ries to staff drawn from target forest communities. Surplus funds are re-invested in the development of community-based sustainable economic activities where production of value-added natural forest products act as the incentive for the conservation and long-term survival of the planted trees that have been planted.

Obviously, we all benefit from the sequestration of the carbon!

Interested? Contact us.