Walia Special Edition on the Bale Mountains (2011) - Zoologische ...

Can Carbon Contribute to Conservation Financing? A Technical and Economic
Feasibility Analysis of REDD in the Bale Mountains National Park
Anouska A. Kinahan 1* and Charlene Watson 2
1 FZS-BMCP, Bale Mountains National Park, PO BOx 165, Robe, Bale, Ethiopia
2 Department of Geography & Environment, and Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change
and the Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London,
WC2A 2AE, United Kingdom
*Email: anouskakinahan@fzs.org
Abstract
As the costs for conservation increase there is a corresponding decrease in the funds available. This
has meant that many protected areas need to examine options for generating income for sustainable
financing. Increasingly payment for ecosystem services and markets are becoming a popular theme
for protected area managers to start examining. Within these markets, carbon is among the most
developed. REDD projects generate carbon credits by averting carbon dioxide (CO ) emissions into
2
the atmosphere through the reduction or prevention of deforestation and degradation that otherwise
would occur in the absence of such a project, making REDD initiatives directly in line with
conservation objectives. There are many technical issues surrounding the implementation of REDD
in National Parks for example additionality and leakage. This study shows that in fact technically
and economically, REDD is a feasible option for the Bale Mountains National Park. It shows how
it can address all the relevant technical issues and has the potential to generate sufficient funds to
meet the optimal and critical costs of GMP implementation while also taking into account revenue
sharing with relevant stakeholders including the communities.
Introduction
Protected area financing
Over the years Protected Area (PA) financing has become a key concern in global biodiversity and
conservation debates. The 5th IUCN World Parks Congress (2003), the 7th Meeting of the Convention
on Biological Diversity (COP7)(2004), and an international meeting on biodiversity science and
governance, hosted by UNESCO and the government of France (2005), all identified the lack of
funding as a primary obstacle in achieving conservation goals. Further, the decline and lack of
financing in developing countries greatly limits the actual, or potential, contribution that PAs make
to poverty reduction and sustainable development (Emerton et al. 2006), not least traditional goals of
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