Noel Kempff Climate Action Project:
Protecting Forests to Reduce Climate Change

In 1997, The Nature Conservancy and Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) created the Noel Kempff Mercado Climate Action Project to reduce climate change by protecting 1.5 million acres of tropical forest that were threatened by timber harvesting and deforestation. Together with the Bolivian government and three energy companies, the partners terminated the logging rights and incorporated the land into a national park. The partners also enforced a deforestation ban in protected areas within the park by reducing slash-and-burn agriculture and initiating alternative income programs for the surrounding communities.

Noel Kempff Mercado is designed to simultaneously address climate change, conserve biodiversity and bring sustainable benefits to local communities. By avoiding logging and agricultural conversion, the project is expected to prevent the release of up to 5.8 million tons of carbon dioxide over the next 30 years.

Conservation Significance and Benefits

Aside from reducing carbon emissions, the project:

• Doubles the range for species requiring large tracts of land including the Brazilian tapir (tapirus terrestris) and jaguar;
• Decreases soil erosion and future agricultural runoff into the park’s rivers;
• Provides a community support program that aids in the development of  sustainable management and use of natural resources, as well as job opportunities in the park; and
• Assists local communities in their efforts to attain legal status as indigenous people and to secure land tenure. Project partners are also working with local communities to create economic opportunities that provide an alternative to encroaching on other forest lands.

The project’s carbon benefits are expected to last in perpetuity as the site lies within the newly expanded national park and a permanent endowment has been established to fund protection activities throughout the 30-year life of the project and beyond.

Verifying and Monitoring Emissions Reduction

In 2005, Noel Kempff Mercado was the first forest emissions reduction project to be verified by a third party based on international standards used in the Kyoto Protocol. This verification demonstrates that protecting forests can achieve verifiable emissions reductions by preventing the release of carbon that is stored in the living biomass of forests.

The project also includes a comprehensive plan to monitor the number of trees in Noel Kempff Mercado, socioeconomic impacts and the rate of deforestation. Monitoring and third-party verification have showed that between 1997 and 2005, 1,034,137 metric tons of CO2 that are stored in the forest would have been released into the atmosphere if not for the project.

Forest Carbon: A Credible and Critical Climate Change Solution

Forest carbon projects, such as the Noel Kempff Mercado project, demonstrate that forest carbon is an effective and feasible part of an overall solution to climate change.

The Nature Conservancy believes that effective international and U.S. climate change policy frameworks must:

• Achieve significant reductions in emissions from all major sources;
• Create incentives to reduce emissions from deforestation and to absorb carbon from the atmosphere by conservation-based forest management and forest restoration; and
• Support adaptation strategies that help the natural world cope with the impacts of climate change.

Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photo © Margo Burnham (Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (FAN) measures, paints and tags dead and damaged trees, Noel Kempff Mercado); Photo © Dan Quinn (Noel Kempff Mercado National Park).