This is the first project in DRC to benefit from global trade in emission reductions under the Clean Development Mechanism. The World Bank’s BioCarbon Fund will purchase 500,000 tons of emission reductions (so-called carbon credits) to be generated by the project until 2017 from a private company called NOVACEL, founded and headed by locals from Bateke, including the Mushiete brothers Olivier and Thierry.

The objective of the initiative is to lead the local population and farmers to stop the destruction of the natural forests and to concentrate on planting managed forests, says Olivier Mushiete, director of the Ibi Bateke Carbon Sink Project. The degraded lands will be transformed into a managed forest of acacia, eucalyptus and indigenous species that will sequester CO2 and contribute to the supply of fuelwood for Kinshasa.

”As DRC starts preparing for a future international mechanism to compensate tropical nations that reduce deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), this project illustrates concretely how carbon finance can support both the environment and generate revenues to local communities,” says Marie Françoise Marie-Nelly, World Bank Country Director for DRC, who signed the Emission Reductions Purchase Agreement (ERPA) with NOVACEL.

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