Seven-year old deglupta tree in the Connecticut College Carbon-Offest Forest. Photo taken Jan. 24, 2007.

Reforest the Tropics will be an exhibitor at Earth Fest!, Connecticut College’s Earth Day celebration, to be held on campus this Saturday, April 18.  Stop by for a visit!

Connecticut College sponsored a 37-acre forest to offset the CO2 emissions associated with the Crozier-Williams Student Center located on the college’s campus in New London, Connecticut.  The forest was planted by RTT in November 1999 in the Las Delicias Farm in Costa Rica.  Read more about it here.

The graph shown here details the carbon sequestration and growth rate in the Home Depot forest.  It provides the total sequestration (upper lines) and current annual sequestration (last 12 months; lower lines) in tonnes of carbon dioxide and cubic meters of wood production.  The current annual sequestration was 29.4 tonnes of CO2, down from the past year.  The total amount of CO2 stored in the forest in the past 6.64 years is 170.9 tonnes of CO2.  The current and total production in cubic meters of wood are 33 and 188 cubic meters, respectively.  The average annual sequestration and growth since planting are 25.7 and 28.3, respectively.

Long-term management and profitability for the farmer are the keys to sustainability and long-term carbon storage in farm forests.  This project is managed by Reforest The Tropics under a 25-year agreement between RTT and the farm owners.  The forest belongs to the farmer while the rights to the CO2 sequestered belong to the Home Depot during the agreement.

In the RTT Model, we have another idea.  We believe that if pasture reforestation projects are designed and managed correctly, they are capable of producing significant income for the farmer and significant amounts of CO2 sequestered in the live forest.  The basic numbers we seek to show are a) a growth rate of 40 m3/ha/yr during the first 25-year period divided into b) 15 m3/ha/yr given to the farmer from thinnings to sell for profit, and c) 25 m3 (or its equivalent of 25 tonnes of CO2) left in the forest for sequestration.

A three-and-a-half-year-old carbon-offest forest in Costa Rica sponsored by The Superior Nut Company and managed by Reforest the Tropics, Inc.

Our RTT Model posits that if we can show that the farmer can earn $500/ha/yr from thinnings during the initial 25-year contract, then this is competitive with cattle on the same site, opening up thousands of acres of pastures to reforestation using the RTT Model.

Presently, in the RTT Model, the US emitter sponsors each hectare with a donation of $5,000, one-time, up front. The undiscounted cost of one tonne of sequestered CO2 in this Model would be between $8 and $10: 25 tonnes/ha/yr x 25 years = 625 tonnes total sequestered per hectare. 625/$5,000 = $8/tonne.

From the $5,000, the farmer receives $2,000/ha, a contribution towards the costs of establishing a forest (seedlings, weeding, etc.).  The farmer also receives 4 years of intensive management from RTT, an estimated cost of $2,000 or $500/ha/yr.  That’s weekly management of the farmer’s project.  In return, in the 25-year contract signed by RTT with the farmer on behalf of the US sponsor, the farmer agrees to cede the registration of the sequestered carbon solely to RTT in the name of the US sponsor.

At the end of the 25-year period, the forest returns to the farmer.  However, it is still a young forest with a potential of sequestering more CO2.   So, our Model surmises a second contract for the continued management of the forest for both income and sequestration with the sale of the carbon-offsets for the benefit of the farmer.  If the forest continues to follow the same growth rate of 40 m3/ha/yr divided into 15 m3 for sales and 25 m3 for sequestration, sustained income could be substantial.

In fact, certain of our forests have reached over 50 m3 current annual growth in the 5th year, and we believe they may go even higher.  Understanding the annual growth rate of various pasture sites, species plantings, and management schemes is a major focus of RTT’s ongoing research.  Our forests are specially designed using 3 or more tree species. Presently, we are testing 31 different mixtures, different designs.

It our view, permanence depends in large part on giving the farmer a certain minimum level of profitability; in our case, our initial goal is $500/ha/yr.  If the farmer can make as much money as with cattle on the same site, then the farmer has an incentive to preserve the site as a sustainable forest with the carbon in the live stand.

RTT is an applied research program, developing and demonstrating a model for carbon sequestration through tropical forestry.  Feel free to email us with questions:  info@ReforestTheTropics.org

1) To calculate the carbon being sequestered in a forest, you’ll need a series of permanent sample plots, measured periodically. We use a 1/10-ha plot for each hectare of forest.

2) Measure the green volume of the stems in the plot and add another 50% for the roots.

3) Convert the green volume to dry weight by using the basic density. The literature would have those values for each species in a given plot.

4) About 50% of the dry weight of wood is carbon, C. Use that figure. Multiply the plot value by 10 if you use 1/10-hectare plot sizes.

5) The C content of CO2 is 27.3% based on the respective molecular weights. So divide the weight of carbon, C, in your plot by 0.273 to come up with the amount of CO2 the forest has sequestered.

6) Divide by the age of the forest to get the average annual rate of sequestration.

7) Subtract the calculated total value for last year for the calculated total value from this year and you will have the current annual rate of sequestration.

8) These calculations assume that you started with an open pasture with no trees, i.e., that your baseline was zero carbon on the site when you started.

We’re always willing to address questions about the RTT model for carbon sequestration through tropical forestry.  Email us at info@ReforestTheTropics.org

A sustainable tropical carbon-offset forest managed by RTT and sponsored by the Mohegan Tribe (owners of the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut). The photo was taken in September, 2007, at which time the forest was 5 years, 2 months old.

The authors described an interview they conducted with Professor Gordon T. Geballe of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies regarding his impression of the RTT program.  The Nature Air blog quoted Professor Geballe, who described RTT as follows:

“[RTT is] a positive contribution to what people are doing around the world.  While it may be a small effort it is a major step in the right direction.  It also provides income for researchers and farmers in Costa Rica, which is an important part of the formula.”

The authors also interviewed Don Droppo, Jr., Senior Vice President for Curtis Packaging Corporation, an environmentally minded company specializing in the design and manufacture of superior folding cartons.  Curtis Packaging recently sponsored a carbon-offset forest with RTT, described here.  The Nature Air blog quoted Mr. Droppo about RTT and our Director, Dr. Herster Barres:

“Dr. Barres is a great dynamic gentleman with a passion for developing and executing a successful model to sequester and store US CO2 emissions in tropical farm reforestation projects through this applied research.  We partnered up with RTT last summer.  I was very impressed with his model and wanted to participate in UNEP Billion Tree Campaign.”

As RTT continues to develop and refine its applied research program for climate change mitigation through sustainable tropical farm forestry, we appreciate the continued enthusiasm and recognition from academic supporters, such as Professor Geballe, and our corporate participants, including Curtis Packaging.  We also extend our thanks to Nature Air for the publicity.

Contact RTT for more information about our ongoing research program and to learn how to sponsor your own carbon-offset forest.

Oxen hauling logs during a periodic thinning of a RTT carbon-offset forest. Photo taken Feb. 2009.

RTT is developing a model of reforestation that is profitable for the farmer and that sequesters CO2 efficiently for the US sponsor.   The farmer earns money from each forest as RTT carries out periodic thinnings—partial harvests that allow the forest to grow healthier and faster.

RTT always thins the poorer quality trees to leave more room for the remaining trees to grow larger.   Shown here is a team of oxen taking out some logs from a forest we are thinning this month.  The photo was taken last week in Costa Rica.

A nine-year-old deglupta hybrid tree in the Connecticut College Carbon-Offset Forest. Photo taken Feb. 4, 2009.

The Connecticut College Carbon-Offset Forest is one such forest.  Planted by RTT in 1999, the Connecticut College forest was designed to offset the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the Crozier-Williams Student Center on the college’s campus in New London, Connecticut.

The nine-year-old deglupta hybrid tree shown in this photo is part of the A-layer (above the B- and C-layers) of the specially designed forest, which is located in the the Las Delicias Farm in Costa Rica.

RTT developed the hybrid deglupta tree for its fast growth and other advantageous characteristics.  Tall, straight and widely spaced, the deglupta tree has a light crown that allows light to filter through to the B-layer that contains several species.  Not visible in this photo is the C-layer of Klinkii trees; the C-layer grows underneath the other trees to capture the remainder of the solar energy and increase total production in the forest.

By planting, managing, and monitoring forests such as that sponsored by Connecticut College, RTT continues to improve its innovative designs for tropical carbon-offset forests.

Oxen extract a log thinned from a ten-year-old carbon-offset forest in Costa Rica, managed by Reforest the Tropics, Inc. Photo taken Feb. 5, 2009.

The log shown in the picture is one of many thinned last week from a Costa Rican carbon-offset forest.  A thinning is a selective partial harvest to improve the quality of the forest and to allow the remaining trees to grow with less competition.  This site was a farm pasture 10 years ago, prior to its reforestation by RTT in cooperation with Mr. Rojas, a farmer.  The log shown contains about 1 cubic meter of wood, which the farmer can sell for about US$30. Most logs in this first thinning were smaller.  The current thinning began last week and is presently ongoing; dozens of logs will eventually be extracted from this forest.  The extraction of these logs improves the carbon-offset forest by concentrating its growth in the better remaining trees.  This is the first of many planned periodic thinnings to improve this forest and to provide the farmer with income under the RTT model.

This research forest was sponsored by a group of 26 US donors.  RTT manages the forest in a 25-year contract with the farmer.  In general, under the RTT model, US sponsors donate $5,000, a one-time deductible donation, for the rights to the resulting sequestration in a 2 ½-acre forest during those 25 years.  The sequestration rate in this forest is estimated at 25 tonnes of CO2 annually.  Thus, the undiscounted cost per sequestered tonne of CO2, if our estimates of the rate of sequestration are right, is about $8-$10/tonne of CO2.

The RTT model is designed to be a sustainable, win-win model for sequestering carbon dioxide that benefits all participants and the environment.  Contact RTT for additional information or to get involved by sponsoring a new research forest to offset the carbon emissions of an organization or individual.

RTT Staff Measuring Trees in a Costa Rican Carbon-Offest Forest

The Hotchkiss School is working to offset some of the carbon emissions associated with an upcoming conference, the 2009 Americas Region Round Square Conference.  The conference, which focuses on issues of environmental sustainability, will be held at the school from April 20-25, 2009.  Hotchkiss is raising funds from conference participants to plant a carbon-offset forest to be managed by Reforest the Tropics.  Hotckiss’s initiative is detailed here. 

The Hotchkiss School an independent boarding school located in Lakeville, Connecticut. Founded in 1891, the school has 587 students in grades 9 through 12 and a small number of postgraduates; students at Hotchkiss come from across the United States and 31 foreign countries.  Reforest the Tropics is proud to partner with the Hotchkiss School to help meet its climate change objectives.