Community guidelines for accessing forestry voluntary carbon ... - FAO

Glossary
To make best use of these guidelines, the reader must be familiar with
the following key terms:
Additionality
The general definition of additionality is: “The extent to which a new
input adds to the existing inputs (instead of replacing any of them) and
results in a greater aggregate.” 3. In the carbon market this refers to the
net reductions in GHG emissions resulting from a project activity that
would not have happened in the absence of the project. Only when
this is proved can the project claim to contribute to climate change
mitigation and thus potentially earn carbon credits.
Afforestation
The deliberate conversion of non-forest land to forest. This only applies
to land that has not been forest for at least 50 years. Afforestation is
always caused by humans, one way or another, for example by planting,
seeding or assisted natural regeneration.
Agricultural Land Management (ALM)
These projects aim to reduce net Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions
from croplands and grasslands by increasing the carbon stocks in one or
more carbon pools, such as soil organic carbon or above-ground woody
biomass. They may be considered a type of forest carbon project under
the Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM) if they involve the planting or
management of trees on croplands or grasslands.
3 Source: www.businessdictionary.com
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