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

Chapter 4: Project implementation: office work
2. Keep transaction costs to the minimum
Starting an individual project can be expensive (see section 3.2 for the
list of likely expenses in setting up a project). These costs alone may
outweigh the eventual financial rewards. It is good practice to explore all
possibilities to lower costs by using strategies such as linking a forestry
VCM project with other similar projects, or by forming partnerships with
other organizations.
3. Provide social and environmental benefits at the local level
Projects are most sustainable when they provide other services beyond
carbon, such as watershed protection or soil stabilization. They must also
provide social benefits such as land tenure security, access to natural
and cultural resources, improved livelihoods, and increased resilience to
climate change or natural disasters. A forestry VCM project must prove
that it will also deliver these ‘co-benefits’ in order to meet most forestry
VCM standards.
4.1 Project development steps
The usual steps that need to be undertaken in the preparation and
implementation of a successful forestry VCM project are as follows:
1. Development of a Project Idea Note (PIN);
2. Selection and application, or development, of a methodology;
3. Validation of the methodology (in the case of developing a
new methodology);
4. Development of a project description (PD) or a project design
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