Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project
This pioneering programme in Kenya is the first Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation
(REDD+) project to gain Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) validation. Also validated to Gold Level of the Climate,
Community and Biodiversity (CCB) Standard, it is implementing critical activities for reducing deforestation
while creating local sustainable development opportunities and protecting valuable ecosystems.
The project is located in one of Conservation International’s Global Hotspots – areas holding especially high
numbers of endemic species, yet facing extreme and immediate threats. In addition to a range of plant species,
The Kasigau Corridor project is home to five mammal species that are considered endangered, vulnerable
or threatened: African elephant, cheetah, lion, African hunting dog and Grevy’s zebra.
The Project
Situated in the Taita Taveta District, Kenya, between the Tsavo
East and Tsavo West National Parks, the Kasigau Corridor
project avoids unplanned deforestation and degradation of
tropical forests. This second phase of the project is on
13 blocks of land owned by Indigenous Community
Ownership Groups.
The project developer, Wildlife Works, has launched this
carbon project having already spent 10 years building a local
consumer clothing business that created jobs, built schools
and provided economic benefits to communities, in order
to conserve endangered and threatened wildlife.
Wildlife Works Carbon was a natural extension to this work,
enabling the provision of a revenue stream from bio diverse
forest protection.
The project reduces carbon dioxide emissions by protecting
natural carbon sinks that, in the absence of the project,
would have been deforested and/or degraded for subsistence
agriculture, typically using slash and burn techniques to
grow maize. The area primarily consists of low density
forestland, shrub land, and grassland savannah. Historically,
deforestation in the areas adjacent to the project areas
was primarily driven by the local farmers from the Taita and
Duruma Tribes. These communities converted the land to
cropland, typically by first degrading the land for the illegal
charcoal trade, followed by subsistence agriculture. The
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deforestation and degradation mostly began in the late 1980s,
largely due to more families moving into the area to harvest as
the more fertile hill top lands could no longer meet the needs
of the population.
Much of the farming in the area is unsustainable with no long
term management of the soil. This, combined with insufficient
and unpredictable rain patterns, with rain often very localised,
has led farmers to continually move to new plots in order to
find a better crop yield, clearing more forest.
Prior to Wildlife Works’ arrival in the area in 1997, this
agricultural conversion occurred in the areas adjacent to the
project in a heavy and visible manner, and even into some
project areas. Deforestation even continues significantly in
the area adjacent to the project today, illustrating that, in the
absence of the project, this activity would continue.
Monitoring carbon for verification
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Carbon Finance and REDD+
REDD+ projects are essential in the international effort to
combat climate change as deforestation and forestry
degradation account for approximately 18% of global
carbon emissions, more than the transport and aviation
sectors combined.
There are a number of different causes of deforestation but
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate
Change (UNFCCC) states that the most common direct cause
of deforestation is agriculture, with subsistence farming
allegedly responsible for almost 50%. Intensive cattle
grazing – considered an agricultural cause of deforestation
- often prevents the growth of young trees and shrubs, which
would otherwise help to naturally repopulate deforested
areas.
This means that combating deforestation and degradation
caused by subsistence agriculture in a region such as this, is
crucial to making a significant difference to global greenhouse
gas emissions, while also having the added benefits of
biodiversity protection and community development.
Evidence of deforestation adjacent to Kasigau Corridor
Activities to Reduce Deforestation
and Create Sustainable Development
Agriculture
In order to assist the local communities in their move away
from subsistence agriculture and deforestation, Wildlife
Works has established an organic greenhouse at the project
in addition to multiple nurseries with more in development.
The greenhouse grows citrus trees and agroforestry
species such as Neem and Moringa oliefera to meet farmer’s
medicinal, nutritional and fuel wood needs. Each nursery,
employing approximately five people, is responsible for
working with their immediate community to plan and
implement the crops, while Wildlife Works provides
training. In addition, the nurseries are building a business
around Jojoba planting. The oil from Jojoba seeds is quite
valuable and is used in the cosmetics industry and as
biodiesel fuel. Community members are raising the plants in
the nurseries to later plant and harvest while Wildlife Works
will assist in providing market links for the farmers to sell the
seeds.
The local population’s need for farm land has also been
addressed by the establishment of a land cooperative on
5,000 acres. This used land that had been cleared before
Wildlife Works began its work.
Wildlife Works has implemented a wide range of sustainable
development initiatives in the project area and adjacent land
to reduce deforestation, with much of the focus on influencing
behavioural change through agroforestry projects, but also
through physical protection with unarmed ranger patrols.
As the carbon project builds, Wildlife Works is committed
to expanding and creating a new range of innovative
co-benefits for the communities, all of which are developed in
close consultation with community committees.
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Elephants on grassland at Kasigau Corridor
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Reforestation
Forest at Kasigau Corridor
An additional activity of the project is a three year reforestation
project on the slopes of Mt. Kasigau to plant 20,000
indigenous hardwood trees. These trees are not included in
the emission reduction calculations, but it is a valuable initiative
to help replace trees cut down for charcoal production
and construction over the past years. The community
members involved in the monitoring and implementation
of the project are rewarded financially for helping ensure
its permanence.
Forest and Biodiversity Monitoring
School Construction and Bursary Scheme
An important part of the project is the physical protection of the
land. Wildlife Works has set up several ranger stations around
the project areas. Each station has between eight and 12
Wildlife Works rangers, recruited and trained from the local
communities. There are nearly 80 rangers in total employed
by the project currently. The primary role of the rangers is to
protect the land from deforestation, including illegal charcoal
production and cattle grazing. There is also a High Conservation
Value (HCV) team responsible for tracking and monitoring the
HCV species, including African elephant, cheetah and lion.
Wildlife Works has already built 18 classrooms throughout the
district and a partner has established a bursary programme
which has sent dozens of children to high school. A plan
is in place to send at least five new students a year through
four-year secondary school programmes and on to college
or university. A school construction and maintenance fund
will provide funding every year to seed school construction
and maintenance projects in the area.
Wildlife Works is also expanding a partnership with the
Kasigau Development Trust to create a new team of
community scouts, which will protect wildlife that remains on
Mt. Kasigau, just outside the project area.
Organic Clothing Factory
One of Wildlife Works’ core projects from the beginning has
been the construction of an eco factory. People from the
local community were employed during construction and
now young women from the community are employed to sew
organic cotton clothing, which is exported to the US and
Europe for sale on the internet and in fashion boutiques.
The factory is in the process of expanding and is expected to
create several more employment opportunities.
Women at the eco factory
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Eco charcoal production
Eco Charcoal and Fuel Wood
In Africa an estimated 90% of the entire continent’s
population uses wood-based fuel, such as charcoal,
for cooking.
In order to avoid wood being taken in an unsustainable and
ecologically damaging way, the project has started using
sustainably managed wood from the greenhouses for some
fuel supply. In addition, it has initiated an extensive project to
explore the large scale production of carbon neutral charcoal
derived from bush trimmings, allowing the local community
to be self-sufficient in fuel wood without having to degrade
any of the land.
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Biodiversity
Carbon Calculations
The Project Area, part of the greater Tsavo ecosystem, is on
the northern most border of one of Conservation International’s
Global Hotspots – The Eastern Arc Mountains hot spot.
Acting as a corridor between two national parks; the project
zone contains almost all the species present in these
parks and qualifies as an area of High Conservation Value.
Specifically, the project area is home to a complete dryland
ecosystem including five mammal species that are considered
endangered, vulnerable or threatened under International
Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) guidelines: African
elephant, cheetah, lion, African hunting dog, and a globally
significant population of Grevy’s zebra.
The Kasigau Corridor project uses the VCS approved
methodology element VM0009 – Methodology for Avoided
Mosaic Deforestation of Tropical Forests Version 1.0. It is
the first REDD project (of any methodology) to be validated
to the VCS. The VCS rules require that carbon credits sold
from projects like this must adhere to ‘ex-post’ accounting
whereby credits verified can only be from carbon
sequestered in the past, not predicted for the
future (ex-ante).
The project area for the calculation of carbon emission
reductions from the Phase 2 project area covers 169,741
hectares of dryland forest land, owned by 13 Indigenous
Community Ownership Groups.
Wildlife Works has employed unarmed rangers to prevent
illegal access to the project area and to monitor the forest,
wildlife populations and ecosystem health. Previously much
of the wildlife has either been poached or scared away by
human activity, specifically overgrazing of cattle. However,
the income available from the carbon project will make it
unnecessary for local communities to lease the land for
cattle grazing by others. This, in addition to a full ranger
patrol, should enable the historically bio-diverse habitat to
return, not only benefiting the ecosystem but also increasing
the ecotourism potential for the area and communities.
The project is validated by an independent qualified
auditor accredited to audit to VCS criteria. Additionally, the
project is validated and verified to the Climate, Community and
Biodiversity (CCB) Standard and has achieved Gold Level
status due to the biodiversity significance of the area.
The Kasigau Corridor REDD+ Project is monitored annually
by Wildlife Works and community employees to produce
documentation for annual carbon accounting verifications.
ETHIOPIA
UGANDA
SOMALIA
TANZANIA
INDIAN OCEAN
Project Location: Kasigau Corridor is situated in the Taita
Taveta District, Kenya, between the Tsavo East and Tsavo
West National Parks.
The CarbonNeutral Company - a world-leading provider of carbon reduction solutions
London T: +44 20 7833 6000 E: [email protected]
New York T: 1-646-367-5800 E: [email protected]
Singapore T: + 65 688 44465 E: [email protected]
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