Commonland has achieved a significant milestone in developing a carbon asset management programme to protect wildlife and forests and help the local communities of the Simalaha Community Conservancy. The conservancy is a community-led protected area of 180,000 hectares in the Zambian component of the majestic Kavango Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area. The carbon asset management programme, which aims to scale and improve a cookstoves programme for low-income households within Simalaha, was initiated by COmON Foundation with the support of the African Stove Company (TASC) and Peace Parks Foundation. Commonland provides seed financing and programme management whilst Peace Parks implements the project on the ground.
This initiative aims to turn any reductions in greenhouse gas emissions into carbon credits. Now that The Gold Standard – a certification body focused on maximising the impact of climate and development activities – has registered the programme, we expect that 74,000 Voluntary Emission Reduction (VERs) carbon credits will be issued in 2022 alone.
After the deduction of programme expenses, the revenue generated from the sale of the carbon credits will be donated to the Simalaha Conservancy Trust to fund development initiatives identified by the communities living within the conservancy.