April Salumei Rainforest Community Conservation Project 2017

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Project Details

Why we support this project

The April Salumei project protects and sustainably manages nearly 200,000 hectares of globally significant pristine rainforest in the East Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. The project area has previously been recognised as an exceptional biodiversity hotspot by the Climate Community and Biodiversity Standard (SCS, 2011). Before becoming a carbon project, the area was planned to be cleared for logging.

The project will prevent 22.8m tonnes of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere over its lifetime and has prevented 1.8 million tonnes of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere during the most recent monitoring period.

Community Impact

164 distinct clan groups and 9000 indigenous people live in the project area, covered by the project's Sustainable Development Plan (SDP). The SDP is driven by a team of local and international specialists, who work with local communities and stakeholders to identify a long-term suite of local investments that attend to local needs and aspirations, encompassing health, education, training, economic development (including sustainable agriculture) and local employment to support conservation and biodiversity outcomes.

Projects to date include:

Light up April Salumei : 1000 Sustainable, solar powered lights provided to 30 schools, 26 health centres, aid posts, families and cultural centres - Created 8 meaningful jobs - Provided 6 skill development traineeships

Eagle Wood Project: - Employed experts in nursery management that trained representatives from each Landowner Company as forest community stewards - Created 10 meaningful jobs - Facilitated the planting of 10,000 trees

Biodiversity Impact

The project activities deliver vital biodiversity conservation outcomes. The project protects and regenerates vital peatland habitats in Sumatra, an area known for its wildlife including the endangered Sumatran tiger, rhinoceros hornbill, Malay tapir and sun bear. Of the species identified in the project area, more than 50% are either vulnerable, endangered or critically endangered, indicating that the site will have a significant positive impact on biodiversity under this project. The expected net benefits for biodiversity include the persistence of intact, ecologically functional habitats, restoration and regeneration of degraded peatland, and ongoing and recovering populations of species of conservation.

Real and Lasting Impact

Permanence: Project activities must generate permanent reductions and removals in GHG emissions. This requires that the carbon sequestered and stored within the project area will not be released due to unmitigated risk factors such as forest fires, extreme weather events, pest and disease outbreaks and land tenure disputes that result in deforestation. The project has a permanence period of at least 38 years (until 2047). TEM is currently in discussions with PNGFA to extend this permanence period for an additional 40 years.

Additionality: A project is additional if the GHG emissions reductions and removals would not occur without the implementation of the project activities. In the case of April Salumei, the project area was under threat from planned commercial logging. Local communities have agreed to cancel logging permits, with revenue from carbon offsets being paid in lieu of royalties from logging.

Leakage: Leakage risks refer to risks that timber harvesting and/or land-use conversion will relocate to other areas in PNG and pertain to market effects and activity shifting.

Leakage effects due to market effects are negligible, however, they have been robustly accounted for in both the calculation of GHG reductions and in additional mitigation measures undertaken by the project proponents. Risks of activity shifting were deemed non-existent.