Trees

Trees remove carbon dioxide (CO₂) from the atmosphere during photosynthesis, forming carbohydrates that “lock up” the carbon (the “C” of CO₂) in the wood of the tree. The oxygen (the “O” of CO₂) is returned to the atmosphere.

Growing trees is, therefore, a valuable way of mitigating the effects of climate change. And trees bring many other local benefits to the people and places where they are grown. Most of the trees we plant are indigenous varieties, which contribute to local biodiversity as well as enriching and stabilizing soils, reducing erosion, giving shade, and reducing local temperatures. Many trees also provide medicinal and edible products from fruit, flowers, and bark. In addition, local communities can use prunings and thinnings for animal fodder or firewood.

While some of our trees are planted to create new areas of permanent forest, others are managed as commercial schemes, bringing economic benefits to the local community through the sale of timber. This financial incentive ensures that trees are well cared for and sold for construction purposes, thus ensuring the carbon remains locked up.

Climate Stewards’ first ever project, started in 2007, was undertaken in partnership with A Rocha Ghana – growing trees at schools around Kumasi, and with local communities in northern Ghana. Those trees have now reached heights of up to 30 meters and require no further maintenance. The newly forested areas are often used by the schools as “outdoor classrooms”, educating the next generation in the value of trees. We continue to fund School Environment Clubs which provide practical skills in tree management as well as trips to other sites, to inspire students to care for all aspects of the environment.

It was our experience in Ghana that led us to develop the Seal of Approval. Carbon offsetting is regulated by several third-party accreditation schemes to ensure high-quality and sustainable projects. While this is a good thing, all of these standards are designed for much larger scale projects than Climate Stewards supports. Because of this, these standards are unfeasibly expensive and onerous for the type of community-based projects we support.

Growing trees mitigates the effects of climate change. Forests bring many other benefits to the people and places where they are grown and protected. We plant mostly indigenous varieties, which contribute to local biodiversity as well as enrich and stabilize soils, reduce erosion, give shade, and reduce local temperatures. Many trees also provide medicinal and edible products from fruit, flowers, and bark. In addition, local communities can use prunings and thinnings for animal fodder or firewood.

We partnered with A Rocha Ghana in 2007 for our first ever project – growing trees at schools around Kumasi, and with local communities in northern Ghana. Those trees have now reached heights of up to 30 meters and require no further maintenance. Local schools often use the newly forested areas as “outdoor classrooms,” educating the next generation on the value of trees. We continue to fund school environment clubs that provide practical skills in tree management as well as trips to other sites to inspire students to care for all aspects of the environment.

Our experience in Ghana led us to develop the Seal of Approval framework. Several third-party accreditation schemes regulate carbon offsetting to ensure high-quality and sustainable projects. These standards are designed for much larger scale projects than we manage, and are unfeasibly expensive and onerous for the type of community-based projects we support.

Our Seal of Approval imposes a much smaller administrative burden than existing third-party accreditation schemes, ensuring that more offsetting income is transferred to local beneficiaries. By working through trusted partners, using conservative figures, and including appropriate “insurance buffers,” the Seal of Approval provides confidence that carbon savings are at least equivalent to the offset amount.

The Seal of Approval framework provides a tool for assessing the design, implementation, accountability, and sustainability of community-scale carbon offset projects in the two-thirds world, and for estimating the amounts of CO₂ which will be mitigated.

In 2018, we started planning and designing two tree planting projects that will be delivered under our Seal of Approval framework:

Tree growing at six churches in Uganda with the Baptist Union of Uganda, in partnership with African Pastors Fellowship.
Tree growing at two schools and one church in Kenya in partnership with Watersheds Ecosystem Conservation

Planting started in Spring 2019 and is currently ongoing.

Designing a project

Calculating carbon sequestration

The Climate Stewards Seal of Approval works with two different approaches to tree planting:

Commercial Forestry
Permanent Forestry/Agroforestry

You can download and read the complete methodology that we use in our estimates of carbon sequestration potential below.

Trees planted in Asamama, Ghana in 2007

Preparing the ground in Kyatune, Kenya

Planting Melia volkensii in Kyatune, Kenya

Commercial Forestry

For commercial forestry projects, we plant fast-growing indigenous trees that will reach a merchantable size in ten to fifteen years. For example, in our project with Watersheds Ecosystem Conservation in Kenya, this means planting Melia volkensii (sometimes known as “mahogany of the drylands”), which will grow to a diameter of about 10 inches in twelve years,and can be harvested and sold for use in construction or as electricity poles.

We initially plant trees a spacing of about 3 yards, allowing us to plant 400 trees per acre. At five or six years, about 40% of the trees are “thinned” to give the remaining trees more space to grow, and the cut timber is sold for use in construction, for fencing, and other uses.

Throughout the growing period, branches will be trimmed and sold as firewood as they are of little use for anything else. This means that branches are not included in our carbon sequestration potential estimates for commercial projects, but bring economic benefits to the communities where they are planted.

Compared to permanent forest projects, commercial projects produce fewer carbon offsets. This is because we do not count all of the trees’ biomass towards the carbon sequestration estimate – as mentioned above, some branches and cuttings will be used as firewood, releasing the stored carbon back into the atmosphere. This means that in our calculations, the only part of the tree that counts towards carbon sequestration estimates and therefore offset quantities is the trunk, the part that will be sold and will retain the locked-up carbon. The complete trunk isn’t included, as there are losses when timber is processed for use – the cuttings often being used as fuel. The Merchantable Stem Volume is the proportion of the stem of the tree that will be suitable for sale as timber. Typically, about 80% of a tree’s stem can be sold.

Commercial projects bring significant economic benefits. Timber from a single woodlot can be worth up to around $11,000 depending on the quality of the wood and the quantities available for sale.

For commercial projects, we recommend that a percentage of available land is set aside for permanent forest.

Permanent Forestry/Agroforestry

One of the aims of a permanent forestry/agroforestry project is to create new, long-lasting, wooded areas that improve biodiversity. By planting a mixture of indigenous species, we can help restore lost woodland vital for the survival of native animals, birds, and insects.

Most new forests We plant most new forests using an agroforestry model. The young trees are interplanted with crops such as vegetables, beans, mung beans, and cowpeas. The fast-growing vegetables provide valuable shade for the young tree seedlings in their first few years. Farmers are also present and attentive to the site, looking after their crops and keeping an eye on the tree seedlings at the same time.

Making a Successful Project

Local knowledge of tree planting practice is essential to the success of a tree growing project – the wrong trees, planted in the wrong place, at the wrong time, and in the wrong way will almost certainly fail.

We always work with local experts who advise on the suitability of different species for the locations we want to work in when planning our projects. These local experts also work with our project partners to organize and supervise the actual tree planting.

Community involvement is another key to the success of a project. A sense of ownership and a desire to see a project through to completion is essential. We work with community leaders to understand the people who will be involved, the resources available, and how they will work together to make sure that the ongoing maintenance required for a successful project will be achieved. Communities make a long-term investment when they begin a tree-growing project.