Dehradun, July 29
Uttarakhand, being one of the states with a large landmass under forest, has been trying hard to get validation from the the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) for carbon credits needed for carbon trading at the international level for zero carbon emissions and protecting environment. The state hopes to get its carbon credit validation on forests in the near future as the inquiry process on the claims have started.

Uttarakhand, with more than 60 per cent of its land under forest, has submitted four proposals to the world body under the Kyoto Protocol for earning carbon credits. Under the Kyoto Protocol, western nations indulging in more cardon dioxide emissions have to promote cleaner technologies buying carbon credits from such units in developing countries using environment-friendly technologies.

The state government has already set up a Clean Development Mechanism Cell (CDMC) to coordinate work for earning carbon credits from international bodies.

More than 60 per cent of the landmass of Uttarakhand is under forest with six national parks and six sanctuaries, including the world-famous Jim Corbett National Park and the Nanda Devi biosphere reserve, a world heritage site.

There has been a demand from environmentalists as well as the political class that the state of Uttarakhand, located in the fragile Himalayan region and home to two major rivers, the Ganga and the Yamuna, should be compensated for preserving the forest wealth of the country that is not only important for the nation, but also for world ecology.

“Basically, apart from industries, we have submitted four proposals to the union environment ministry, the nodal agency for submitting such proposals to the UN body on forestation,” said AR Sinha, member secretary of the Uttarakhand CDMC . “We have also requested that the issue of protection of forests by Uttarakhand be taken up at the UN body since , guidelines on forestation are not clear. Besides only China has got one validation for its grasslands by now,” Sinha added.

Uttarakhand could earn much through carbon trading if the UN body agrees to grant carbon credits to the state for protecting forests.

A project presented by the Indian Institute of Technology(IIT), Roorkee, Department of Non-Conventional Energy Sources of the state government and the CDMC on clean energy through a micro-hydel project, would become the first such project in the state to get carbon credits from UN body. Apart from presenting projects, the state government has also sent a proposal to ‘Chicago Climate’, a sort of stock exchange for getting carbon credits through The Energy Research Institute (TERI). “While, the UNFCCC norms are stringent, carbon credits given by them are costlier. On the other hand, carbon credits given by ‘Chicago Climate’ are comparably cheaper,” Sinha said.

While one carbon credit given by the UNFCCC could be sold for $14, those given by ‘Chicago Climate’ are priced at 3.5 $ to 5.5 $ in the carbon market. “We are trying to get carbon credits in the voluntary market like “Chicago Climate”. Already, the data on forests has been presented.

“It is only after inquiry and validation from third party experts that such credits are given,” said Sinha. Many industries of the state have also applied for carbon credits.

“We have not given permission to the industry which are not using cleaner technologies . These industries can earn carbon credits in carbon market,” said an official of the Uttarakhand Pollution Control Board. 

Dehradun, July 29
The "Kyoto: Think Global Act Local" initiative, financed by the Netherlands ministry for development cooperation, involved two village communities in Uttarakhand last year to assess potential of communities in storing carbon.

The objective was to develop simple but reliable measurement methods that could be carried out by communities. By training communities to take measurements, the costs were lowered.

In India, activities were carried out in themid-elevations (1700-2100 m) of the Kumaonhills. The project was started at two Van Panchayats of Dhaili and Toli in Kumoan. Dhaili covers 60 hectares of forest and Toli a total of 103 hectares.

Five members of each Van Panchayat, known as field investigators, were selected on the basis of their willingness to participate and their literacy level.

Ten training sessions of two hours a day were held in using a GPS system for taking the coordinates and boundary marking of forests.

As a result, field-level investigators learnt to use modern gadgets for biomass carbon measurement.

They are now training other community members, thus hoping to lower the costs of these efforts. Aiming to see the effectiveness of the project's approach, an independent verification of carbon measuring techniques and carbon stock was conducted in Dhaili by scientists from Kumaon University, Nainital.

The carbon data measured by the investigators varied by 5 to 11 per cent from the data collected by independent verifiers. The Van Panchayat forests are sequestering carbon at the mean rate of around 3.3 tonnes per hectare per year.

As the area of the Dhali Van panchayat is 60 hectares, it is sequestering a total of 186 tonnes of carbon annually. The average price of carbon offsets ranges between US$ 5 to US $28 per tonne. Using the nominal rate of US$ 10 per tonne, the carbon stored in Dhaili is worth US$ 1,860. Toli Van Pnachayat , with a total area of 103 hectares, is sequestering 357.4 tonnes of carbon every year, worth US$ 3574. 

Dehradun, July 29
The Copenhagen Climate Conference in December will be another tough battle for India even after ensuring initiation at the recently held Bonn talks towards developing draft methodology and accounting for forest carbon in natural forests.

India made a breakthrough in 2007 at the Bali convention by including forestry on the agenda of talks during the convention.

Forest-rich developing nations across the globe are looking forward to the Copenhagen convention in order to get favourable returns for their respective countries in terms of carbon credits.

The Copenhagen conference aims to come up with a global agreement making it possible to sign the Copenhagen Protocol replacing the Kyoto Protocol that runs out in 2012.

Forests had been excluded from carbon-trading schemes under Kyoto, but the issue was firmly back on the agenda after much persuasion during the Bali convention last year.

The Bali convention had admitted providing compensation to developing countries that protected their forests. Initially, incentives were only for those countries where large-scale degradation of forests was taking place.

But then countries like India that have maintained their forest wealth demanded compensation for there standing forests, a fact finally acknowledged at the convention.

The convention had asked for a methodology for foolproof accounting of carbon stocks in these nations for ensuring them the much-sought-after compensation package.

As many as 34 countries developing countries had a few months back started deliberations here in Dehradun towards framing foolproof accounting of carbon inventory of forests, thus enabling them plead their case for compensation of their standing forests more effectively before the key Copenhagen meet of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

“The Copenhagen meet assumes much significance and it will be our endeavour to ensure that India not only gets one-time payment in lieu of keeping carbon intact in its forests but is also credited for sustainable forest management practices towards carbon stocks,” said VRS Rawat, Indian Council of Forestry Research and Education, Dehradun.

Rawat had participated in the second round of climate change talks at Bonn in June which had delegates from 182 countries.

At present there are only two forestry projects registered in India under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), one in Haryana and the other at the ITC, Bhadrachalam.

The mechanism is an agreement between developed and developing countries under which the former with large carbon dioxide emissions have to promote cleaner technologies in the form of buying carbon credits from developing countries.

But the buyers have always beenhesitant to buy credits from the forestry sector.

Credit carried by the forestry sector is temporary as wood ultimately decays with time or gets burnt.

Thus, carbon is bound to be released into the atmosphere. 

Dehradun, July 29
Dr Ravi Chopra of the People’s Science Institute has accused GVK Company and the state government of ignoring environmental concerns while undertaking the Srinagar project following the collapse of the coffer dam for the 330 mw Alaknanda hydro power project yesterday. He said the collapse had come as no surprise to experts.

“Many of us who have been watching the construction work on the project have been appalled by the company’s shoddy practices and wanton violation of environmental rules and regulations,” said Dr Chopra.

Santosh Reddy, project coordinator, GVK, denied the allegations. “We have been doing the work as per the project specifications prepared by experts. All allegations are untrue,” he said on the phone.

“At a meeting with the chief secretary of Uttarakhand and other senior officials in May 2008, members of the Uttarakhand Nadi Bachao Abhiyan informed officials that the company had not built a retaining wall to contain the overburden, in violation of environmental regulations. “They demanded that the government must enforce the laws. They suggested that an independent body be set up to look into such matters.

“But no action was taken then. Later, officials of the World Bank pointed out at the eco-unfriendly practices of the company,” Dr Chopra said.

It was incredible that the state had no mechanism to monitor the construction of dams.

The State Pollution Control Board, responsible for reviewing environment impact assessment (EIA) reports and forwarding these to the union ministry of environment and forests, saw itself only as a post office whose task was to merely receive and send the reports, he said.

The review of several EIA reports and detailed project reports by the People’s Science Institute showed that developers often misrepresented facts, used inadequate data and tried to cut corners.

“It is quite possible that in constructing the coffer dam, the company did not adequately design it to withstand the heavy monsoon flow into the Alakananda,” opined Dr Chopra.

“In Uttarakhand, neither officials nor their political masters are bothered. “This abject neglect lends credence to the view that in Uttarakhand hydropower projects are not meant just to produce power, but more so to lay hands on the loot at the expense of the safety of the people 

Dehradun, July 29
Seeking fulfillment of their long-standing promotion related demands, Dehradun District Collectorate employees today staged a dharna here at the district headquarters.

Led by Shyam Singh Chauhan, district president of State Class IV Employees Association said that the Class IV employees at the Collectorate were being unnecessarily harassed and district magistrate office was paying no heed to their promotional concerns.

The protesting employees also alleged that their repeated appeals have fallen on deaf ears and pledged to further intensify their agitation.

In another protest programme at district headquarters, Members of the Gorkha community in Dehradun staged a demonstration at the district magistrate office demanding simplification of rules linked to preparation of backward-class certificates for the community.

They alleged that by providing certificates to only those who have been staying in Dehradun before 1950 was gross injustice. They also submitted a memorandum in this regard. — TNS