Forest Carbon- India’s first A/R CDM project

Introductory Information (Pre-Project info)

Sirsa, Western belt of Haryana (255 Km from New Delhi). The Sirsa district lies between 29° 14″ and 30° 0″ north latitude and 74° 29″ and 75° 18″ east longitude, forming the western corner of Haryana, bordering the desert of Rajasthan in India

1) Haryana C.D.M Variksh Kisan Samiti (Haryana CDM Tree Farmers Society), Ellenabad, Sirsa – Local farmers

2) Haryana Forest Department

The project lands are marginal croplands that are cultivated once every three years in average, and are left fallow during other period of time. The project area is affected by aeolian (wind blown) sand, and is the degraded part of croplands spread across eight villages. Desert or sandy soil is dominant in the area which is windblown and light in colour.

The mean daily maximum temperature during May and June, which is the hottest period, varies from 42° C to 47° C and winter temperature ranges between 2° C to 20° C. Precipitation is very low with average annual rainfall ranging between 150-200 mm.

The natural trees species available in the area are Jand (Prosopis cineraria), Beri (Zizyphus mauritiana), Jaal (Salvadora oleoides), Reru (Acacia lucophloea), Kair (Capparis decidua), Kikar (Acacia nilotica), Pipal (Ficus religiosa) etc

Technology used (Project info)

It has been ensured that the farmers contribute only small portions of their lands that are degraded and degrading and are unproductive and they do not rely on these lands for their livelihood; so that the leakages due to the displacement of activities are unlikely to occur.

The saplings will be raised in plastic containers, containing an appropriate mixture of soil & farm yard manure/vermicompost and humus to ensure healthy and robust initial growth.

Tree species to be used for planting have been determined by interviewing the farmers and taking into consideration of carbon sequestration rates, biodiversity enhancement, soil and climate conditions, and the value of associated forest products

The species are divided into two categories, viz. short rotation species and medium rotation species in the ratio of 4:6. This proportion will ensure regular flow of financial benefit to the farmers.

The design of plantation differs from one parcel of land to other. It was selected by the individual farmers according to their choice of species at the time of committing the lands for the proposed small-scale A/R CDM project activity.

Pit size: 45 cm x 45 cm x 45 (Small pit size to maintain existing vegetation)

A spacing of 4 m x 2.5 m is maintained in the plantation (1,000 trees per hectare) and re-planting is taken up to fill up casualties. Planting is done in blocks to maximize economic benefits. The harvesting of trees shall be done at the intervals of 10 and 20 years.

In the project area, short rotation (10 years) species (40%) and medium rotation (20 years) species (60%) will be planted.

First two years up to 3,000 castor plants will be sown in between the planting rows by dibbling seeds with not more than 10 sq cm of soil being disturbed by each dibble.

Species

Area (Ha)

Number of trees in total area

Mean Annual Increment (m³)

Short rotation (10 yrs)

Medium rotation (20 yrs)

CDM Info

20 years (with a choice of renewal twice for 20 years each)

The A/R CDM project activity and its crediting period would start from 01/07/2008. The actual plantation work will start from July 2008