How can African Farmers Benefit from Carbon Markets? Sara J. Scherr, Ecoagriculture Partners World Agroforestry Congress Nairobi, Kenya, August 26, 2009

Emissions offset potential in working landscapes in Africa  Improved agronomic practices: croplands could reduce GHG emission mln tons CO 2 eq (5- 9% of annual fossil fuel emissions in Africa)  Agroforestry: Cocoa AF in Cameroon stores 565 t/ha; semi-arid AF with 50 trees/ha stores tons CO 2 eq in soil alone  Improved pasture management can store 110 kg/ha/yr in drylands to 810 kg in humid lands  Farmer-managed natural regeneration: in Niger sequestered 100 million tons of CO 2 eq

PES for climate change integrates production, ecosystem, livelihoods Conservation Ecosystem process & function Wild biodiversity ECOSYSTEM SERVICES Locally beneficial services Globally & regionally beneficial services Sustainable Agriculture Livelihood support PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Global market for carbon in land use, land use change and forestry Types of PES Market size in million $/yr Global (developing countries) BuyersSellersData Source Public Sector $15 (15) National governments; multi-lateral organizations stewards World Bank 2007 Private, under regulation <$10 (<10) Regulated industry, governments, carbon funds, brokers, investors Private landowners, project developers UNFCCC 2009 Private voluntary $ 157 (~100) Corporations, NGOs, universities, individuals C offset retailers and project developers, conservation NGOs, governments C offset retailers and project developers, conservation NGOs, governments Eco- certification Agricultural products 42,000 (unknown) Individual consumers, retailers, food processing industries stewards World Bank 2007 Source: Milder et al Ecology and Society. Forthcoming.

African carbon projects, by country (2008) KenyaSouth AfricaTanzaniaUganda Source: The East and Southern Africa Katoomba Group Payments for Ecosystem Services in East and Southern Africa: Assessing Prospects and Pathways Forward.

Challenges 1: Can we measure agricultural landscape carbon?  Open debate on sequestration levels of terrestrial carbon interventions  Open debate on permanence of terrestrial carbon interventions  Precise measurement systems are currently expensive

Challenge 2: Community planning Too hard? too costly? too risky?

Challenge 3: Will value chains generate sufficient incentives for African producers?

Challenge 4: Can we mobilize agricultural carbon at a large enough scale to make a difference for poverty and for the climate?  Agriculture perceived to have weak institutions  Climate action has focused on small projects  Smallholders assumed to = small scale  Perception of low economies of scale due to site- specificity/diversity of solutions  Current focus on achieving high impacts per hectare, rather than high total impacts

Measure agricultural carbon cheaply and effectively  New agricultural landscape scale MRV tools being developed (e.g. Carbon Benefits Project, Cornell Climate Initiative)  Leading edge projects being implemented (e.g. WB Biocarbon Fund projects in Kenya)  Methodologies being developed for Voluntary Markets

Mobilize communities for climate planning and investment  Initiate climate action with organized & tenure-secure communities  Build capacity of farmer and local/landscape organizations (numerous landscape initiatives)  Small grant facilities for local analysis, planning, assistance, mapping (e.g., Google Earth)  Ensure community representatives are ‘at the table’ to set PES rules (including Copenhagen)

Build efficient value chains for climate payments to farmers  Institutionalize intermediary & bundling services, accountable to farmer clients (e.g., build on farmer coop models)  Establish livelihood-focused Carbon Funds  Utilize landscape-scale planning and monitoring tools (e.g.  “Bundle” agricultural products with climate regulation services  Incorporate into outgrower schemes

Build on existing models for operating at scale  Large-scale government programs for restoring degraded lands and forests (e.g., South Africa, Nigeria)  Large-scale development projects on sustainable land management (e.g., IFAD, Sahel)  National platforms for coordinating action on SLM (e.g., TerrAfrica)  Territorial management initiatives  NGO, farmer, agribusiness networks (e.g., IFAP, EAFF, dairy networks)

Build support for full inclusion of African agriculture in climate talks negaction Building a rigorous case for the potential to scale Document existing programs that can be scaled Document landscape-wide GHG emissions/storage in diverse landscapes Calculate impacts of landscape-wide action Devise concrete strategies for action at scale Pilot country plans where major co-benefits identified for ‘re- carbonizing’ or protecting standing carbon in landscapes Integrate climate action in major agricultural investment programs of donors & development banks Mobilize voluntary carbon market to pilot and document diverse strategies

Thank you…