The Amazon Rainforest

Between May 2000 and August 2006, Brazil lost nearly 150,000 square kilometers of forest—an area larger than Greece—and since 1970, over 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) of Amazon rainforest have been destroyed.

Today deforestation in the Amazon is the result of several activities, the foremost of which include:

• Clearing for cattle pasture
• Colonization and subsequent subsistence agriculture
• Infrastructure improvements
• Commercial agriculture
• Logging

The Amazon spans the borders of eight countries and one overseas territory containing the world's largest river and the source of one-fifth of all free-flowing fresh water on Earth. Its rain forests are the planet's largest and most luxuriant, and home to one in ten known species on Earth. Today, rapid deforestation threatens the Amazon. At current rates, 55 percent of its rain forests could be gone by 2030—a looming disaster not only for the region’s plants and animals, but for the world.

Reigning in the destruction of the world's tropical forests has become a key focus of climate change efforts.

Deforestation in the tropics accounts for up to 20 percent of global emissions of carbon dioxide, making it the second largest driver of global warming after the burning of fossil fuels and the Amazon accounts for nearly half of those emissions!

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) is a set of steps designed to use market/financial incentives in order to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from deforestation and forest degradation. Its original objective is to reduce green house gases but it can deliver "co-benefits" such as biodiversity conservation and poverty alleviation. REDD carbon credits offer the opportunity to utilize funding from developed countries to reduce deforestation in developing countries.

The mytreefrog.com Quest: The Key Facts About Our

Current Project

High level Project Data

• 10,000 hectares of pristine, primary rainforest in the Machadinho d’Oeste area of the state of Rondonia, Brazil, situated adjacent to the indigenous Roosevelt community of the Cinta Larga tribe.

• The project falls within the Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use (AFOLU) category of carbon projects, and specifically within the Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) framework.

• The project is defined as follows:

• Avoiding Planned Deforestation (APD)     4,300 hectares
• Avoided Unplanned Deforestation (AUD)    5,700 hectares

• APD is for the 4,300 hectare area for which the mining licence has been granted and AUD for the remaining 5,700 hectares of the project area as direct and indirect results of the mining.

• The project start date was in the first quarter of 2009. The project activity duration and subsequently, the carbon crediting period will be 20 years.

• Ex ante carbon stock calculations indicate that the project will result in net emissions reductions of approximately 548,250 tCO2e per year over the 20 year crediting period.

• Following the ‘conservative scenario’ basis it is assumed that approximately 10,965,000 tCO2e will be avoided by the project over the crediting period.

• Allowing 5% reduction for possible project leakage, the PDD anticipates production of 10,416,000 tCO2e carbon credits from the project. See ‘Carbon Stocks’ section for further explanation.

Background to the project we support.

The Rondonia Project is a REDD project, operating in the voluntary carbon sector.

The project is being designed to enable compliance with:

· VCS

· Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance Standard – at Gold Level

The project is aiming at the highest possible quality with exceptional benefits to the climate, to local communities, to biodiversity, and to the local environment in general.

The decision to aim high and to seek such exceptional quality is driven by both commercial and ethical considerations, as the developers are targeting their product at the premium end of the voluntary carbon market. In commercial terms, the developers understand that carbon credits produced to exceptional standards will be especially attractive to buyers seeking to enhance their corporate image, and who would wish to see their organisations recognised for their commitment to the minimising of climate change, enhance people’s lives, and ensure the continuation of healthy and biodiverse natural ecosystems.

This project began in 2008 when Celestial Green began negotiations with Capital First Management Bank Ltda (CFMB) for the purchase of 97% of its shares, thereby acquiring 10,000 hectares of forest land in Eastern Rondonia, Brazil with the sole purpose of entering the forest as an exceptionally high quality REDD project.

On finalising the acquisition of CFMB, Celestial Green let lapse a gold mining licence that had been granted to CFMB in 2006. By doing this, Celestial Green made an immediate and significant step in the protection of this important area of rainforest as the licence was for the mining of 4,300 hectares of the land which borders directly onto the Cinta Larga indigenous reserve.

The Celestial Green on-the-ground team was immediately put in place to monitor and protect the land and continue its good relations with the Cinta Larga tribe.

Celestial Green also entered into an agreement with FEAMA (Fundação Ecológica da Amazônia) to work closely with them on the project and for this important organisation to carry out all biodiversity and community work and to ensure that the local communities are permitted to use the project land in a traditional and sustainable manner, and that they also benefit from this inclusion in the project by way of funds to improve and enhance their way of life.

By letting an extremely valuable asset such as the gold mining licence lapse, Celestial Green is showing its commitment to REDD projects and also showing, by example, alternative options of land-use for private land owners.

Project Objectives

The project proposes to sustainably protect a 10,000 hectare area of primary tropical rain forest, of very high conservation value, in the state of Rondonia, Brazil. The area includes a mining licence which has been issued for 4,300 hectares of this land. Development of mining operations would have a catastrophic ecological impact, removing carbon stocks, biodiversity and ecosystem services across the entire 4,300 hectare area, as well as directly and indirectly leading to deforestation and degradation in the surrounding 5,700 hectares through associated activities.

The primary aims of the project are as follows:

1. To allow the issued mining licence to lapse, ensuring that the mining does not go ahead.
2. To retain the presently existing closed canopy primary forest in pristine condition, retaining its current level of stored carbon.
3. To take measures to ensure that the forest retains its current levels of biodiversity and pristine environment
4. To uphold and maintain the identity and culture of the indigenous communities which currently live in and utilize adjacent areas of forest land.
5. To involve the local communities in the project wherever and whenever possible.
6. To ensure that the local communities benefit from their participation in the project by way of financial, medical and educational assistance and employment opportunities.

In order to ensure long-term protection of the project area, forest protection measures will be implemented through engagement, training and development of local community members.                 

And Celestial Green will be working closely with Fundação Ecológica da Amazônia (FEAMA) to ensure that local communities from the adjacent communities are able to benefit from the project land in a traditional sustainable manner, through access to resources within the forest and by sharing in the revenues derived from the carbon benefits delivered by the project.

For more information about the project and other projects underway visit the Celestial Green Website or email info@mtreefrog.com for a PDF copy of the full Project Report.