The long awaited reforestation project of PIL has been registered under the VCS

The long awaited reforestation project from India has been registered under the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS). Prakash Industry Ltd is now avail carbon revenue benefit from their 282.35 hectares of reforested land. Project is registered on Oct 2011 by VCS board. Prakash Industries Limited (PIL) and their associates have started reforestation activities in Durg, Raigarh and Rajnandgaon districts of Chhattisgarh state in India. The land that is reforested under the project activity is a degraded land.

Project Details;

Project title	Reforestation of degraded land in Chhattisgarh, India,
Location	Durg, Raigarh and Rajnandgaon (Districts), Chhattisgarh (State),  India (Country)
Project category	Reforestation project under ARR category of VCS AFOLU
Selected Methodology	AR-ACM0002 version1.0
Carbon Credits (VERs) over the whole crediting period	320,467  (Estimated Annual VCUs 5007)
Start date of project	15th June,2002
Crediting period	2002-2066
Total area under the project activity for plantation	282.35 ha
Plantation started from	June 2002 onwards
Plantation accomplished on	by March, 2006
Principal tree species	Gmelina arborea (Gamhar/ Khamara) and Albizzia lebbeck (Kala siris) (248.35 ha Consolidate)
Other support species	Azadirachta indica(Neem),Denderocalamusstrictus(Baans),Mangifera indica (Aam),Emblica officinalis (Amla), Carica papaya (Papeeta), Cassia tora (Chironta) (34 ha Consolidate)
Techniques employed	The unproductive, abandoned barren lands were seeded immediately after possession with the seeds of leguminous crops like Sunhemp (Crotalaria juncea) and Dhaincha (Sesbania aculeate) before planting the self prepared nursery seedlings. Seeding of complete area with legumes continued till the third year after planting the seedlings too. Such a practice helped the project promoters in reviving the soil flora and fauna that in turn enhanced the plant growth significantly.Other necessary steps like drip irrigation, organic manure, Mulching, Nursery management have been employed
Addressing non-permanence	The project activity addresses non-permanence by adapting short rotation and selecting fast growing species for plantation
Carbon Pools Selected	Above-ground and Below-ground Biomass
Baseline scenario	Continuation with degrading lands
Additionality	Identification of alternative scenarios to the proposed VCS AFOLU project activity – (1) Lands Reforested without benefits of payment for ecosystem services (net carbon sequestration in this case), (2) Lands under alternative land use: Agriculture,  (3) Lands set aside: Status quo: Continued degradation.Benchmark analysis is chosen for demonstration of additionality – Project NPV is taken as financial indicator
Project Validator	Tuev Nord Cert GmbH (Tuev Nord)
Project Consultant	Emergent Ventures International Inc.
Project Developer	Prakash Industries Ltd.

Reference: PIL VCS PD