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

Chapter 5: Project implementation: field work
source of emissions. The use of fossil fuels in project activities
is particularly important, so any additional travel, extra
haulage equipment or harvesting machinery must be carefully
recorded. These emissions will be subtracted from the project
outcome to give net emission reductions.
In some forestry VCM projects, only the AGWB carbon pool needs to be
measured. In this case, the skills used for forest inventory (measuring
tree height, diameter, stocking density, volume etc.) will probably
be sufficient to carry out the fieldwork, provided that the inventory
techniques used can yield a high level of accuracy. Forest inventory
techniques will also be useful for measuring some of the other carbon
pools. However, measuring SOC and BGB pools will require specialized
skills that will need to be obtained either through training or by hiring
external help.
5.4 Identifying and quantifying leakage
Leakage (see Glossary and Chapter 2) is an increase in GHG emissions
outside of the project area due to the activities implemented inside of
the project area. Project managers, staff and partners are not directly
responsible for leakage and may not be able to do much about it.
However, every forestry VCM standard will expect the PD or PDD to
describe how leakage will be minimized, and how leakage that cannot
be avoided is quantified.
One of the most common forms of leakage in forestry VCM projects is
the displacement of activities such as fuel wood collection or shifting
cultivation from the project area to other forests. As forest-dependent
people near the project site generally carry out these activities, one of
the most important strategies to minimize leakage is local consultation.
This process facilitates appropriate project design and careful site
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