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

Chapter 3: Getting started
forests. Read also http://www.iadb.org/idbamerica/index.
cfm?thisid=2705 for an example from Costa Rica.
• Greening commodities: This is a relatively new category of
income-generating opportunity, whereby companies aim
to ‘green’ their image and their commodities through their
investment in a local project. For instance, Danone, one of
the world’s largest dairy producers, is investing in mangrove
restoration and sustainable agriculture, to offset impacts that
they cause with the production of their commodities.
• Payments for ecosystem services (PES): Payments are made
for an ecosystem service (or environmental service – see
glossary) that is provided by a forest. A very good read on PES
systems is the community-benefit driven, or “pro-poor” PES
primer from Forest Trends that can be downloaded at: http://
www.unep.org/pdf/PaymentsForEcosystemServices_en.pdf
Aside from these possible sources of finance, the project may also draw
on the resources of the community itself, as well as some other creative
potential sources, including:
• Volunteer labor – Community members, students and local
youth may be willing to set aside some time for volunteer
work in exchange for gaining knowledge and skills, for instance
to plant trees, grow seedlings, measure and monitor tree
growth, etc.
• Donation of equipment – Private companies or local NGOs
may be able to help gather the necessary equipment through
their projects/activities. Some NGOs may even lend equipment
for a certain amount of time.
• Community fundraising – The community may be willing to
commit and contribute time and labour in exchange for future
employment opportunities.
• Harvesting revenues –It may be possible to get an advance on
timber sales. Timber brokers may loan money as an advance
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