Bring tree farmers into carbon markets, Icraf urges

The fear, it appears, is that acknowledging that an immense tonnage of carbon could be cleared from the atmosphere by trees planted on farms will end up flooding the market with what Icraf terms “cheap carbon credits.”

“Carbon credit politics and misplaced technical concerns are impeding efforts to encourage…better forest management and growing more trees on farms.”

However, Icraf estimates that agroforestry could curtail up to 20 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions.

Currently, the global carbon market largely focuses on rewarding industries that reduce carbon emissions in China, Brazil and India.

For instance, reports from the World Bank show that, this year, Africa accounted for only 1.4 per cent of projects to be rewarded by the global carbon market, with China accounting for 73 per cent while Brazil and India accounted for 8 per cent.