Vanuatu

Multiple waves of migrants over millenina found their way to this remote island archipelago that we know today as Vanuatu. Renowned for its complex linguistic diversity this former colony known as the New Hebrides was administered as an Anglo-French Condominium until the islands gained their independence in 1980.

The Vanuatu Carbon Credits Project
Supporting Pacific development through reducing emissions and protecting forests.

Carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (DFD) account for 20-30% of global carbon emissions. Vanuatu, like other Pacific Island Nations, is endowed with tropical forest, much of which is yet undisturbed by logging. Mitigating climate change by avoiding emissions from DFD in developing countries must address the underlying causes of deforestation in those countries, which are commonly associated with demand for basic economic development at the local and/or national level.

A collaborative project between the Government of Vanuatu, Victoria University of Wellington, Climate Focus in The Netherlands, ESA GOFC-GOLD in Germany and GtripleC in Wellington is currently investigating the viability of an integrated climate change mitigation and sustainable development project to protect the forests of Vanuatu from logging. Finance for the project would come from carbon credits sold by Vanuatu on international carbon markets, with the number of credits being equivalent to the emissions avoided if the forest is protected and not deforested. The project aims to generate forest protection projects and to use these experiences to contribute to international policy development under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Victoria University students Mandy Leathers, Olivia Warrick and Tim Hewitt, with project leader Dr Sean Weaver visited Vanuatu to meet with government officials and NGOs to discuss the project’s feasibility. They also worked with a small island community to identify local drivers of deforestation and local development needs and goals, as well as factors necessary for the project’s success. The main reasons for Vanuatu’s increasing DFD are logging and forest clearance for cattle farming and subsistence agriculture.There are strong economic incentives to allow continued deforestation, including the lucrative royalties received from logging companies and the provision of jobs and income for local people.

With the government promoting investment in beef export, there is also an increasing demand for land for cattle ranching. Areas with particularly valuable timber species, including Kauri, are targets for large-scale commercial logging operations. With access to ports and markets as an important factor, low-lying coastal land has been targeted; in many areas, such as South and East Santo, environmentally and culturally significant lowland coastal forest is becoming scarce. Timber, as well as cash-crops, grown on cleared land, constitute some of the only income-generating activities for local people. Increasing need for monetary income has emerged over time with the transition from ‘traditional’ to more ‘modern’ systems. For example, school fees and church donations are two of the main expenses for rural families. These deforestation drivers are common throughout Vanuatu, especially on the island of Tanna, where extensive forest degradation is occurring as a result of very high population density. Improving water security was acknowledged as the main locally-identified community development need. Other needs included addressing social issues, such as resolving disputes, along with facilitating education and skill-building.

An avoided deforestation project would need to build local capacity within communities to strengthen indigenous systems of governance and enable local people to meet their goals. Such a project can be successful where there is a strong community commitment, while conflicts such as land disputes may be barriers to success. A community pilot project will be important in providing prospective communities with evidence of success.
Carbon finance provides a tremendous opportunity to protect forests and at the same time enable true sustainable development in developing countries. Even though delivering development is not the core goal of climate change mitigation, it is clearly an integral means to this end when attempting to conserve forest-based carbon reservoirs.

The Vanuatu Carbon Credits Project is currently at the end of the first phase and the second phase will involve policy analysis and the development of three carbon finance incentive mechanisms to be tested in Vanuatu.