FAQ´s
a. How will my carbon offset be sequestered and measured?
b. Where will my offset be located?
c. What is the vintage of my offset?
d. How will you guarantee the long-term success of my carbon offset?
e. Are Sierra Gorda Carbon Offsets additional?
f. How will my carbon offset donation be invested?
g. What type of confirmation will we obtain for our offset?
h. Are Sierra Gorda Carbon Credits validated?
i. Are Sierra Gorda Carbon Credits verified?
j. What is the donation price per ton?
k. How do we go about making the donation for the offset?
l. Can Sierra Gorda Offsets be resold?
 a. How will my carbon offset be sequestered and measured?
Your offset will be sequestered through the reforestation of degraded slopes in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve and its area of influence. As trees grow they
capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and convert it into the carbon in their leaves, branches, trunk and roots. Approximately half of this biomass is carbon. We used locally-generated growth models to predict how much biomass will accumulate in each growing reforestation and thus how much carbon it will sequester. Each year Bosque Sustentable carries out monitoring of approximately 20% of the reforestations, measuring a sample of their growing trees.
The data from these samples is use ensure that the reforestation are
capturing carbon according to our projections. For more information please
request our monitoring protocol.
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b. Where will my offset be located?
Your offset will be generated within the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve or its area of influence in eastern-central Mexico.
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c. What is the vintage of my offset?
The vintage of an offset begins the day it was planted. Our estimates of the carbon sequestration necessary to meet an offset commitment include all of the carbon sequestered in the reforestation since the trees were planted
and all of the modeled carbon that this reforestation will sequester in the next 30 years.
Your offset is a combination of what is known as guaranteed carbon because it has already been sequestered and measured, and ex-ante
carbon, meaning that it will be sequestered and verified in the future.
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d. How will you guarantee the long-term success of my carbon offset?
To ensure that we meet our long-term commitment to your offset we take several measures:
First, 20% of the total CO2 projected to be sequestered in each reforestation is withheld as a project self-insurance buffer. The CO2 in this buffer will be used to compensate for any loss due to fire, plague or any other unforeseen reasons for insufficient carbon capture in any reforestation.
Second, the project includes reforestations that are not contiguous and that are located in different parts of the Reserve and its area of influence. As a result, forest fires, tree diseases,
insects and other pests, and extreme weather events such as hurricanes are unlikely to affect a significant proportion of the project area.
Third, participants must enter into long-term (30-year) contracts committing
them to management of their reforestations for carbon sequestration. Payments
to participants are scheduled at regular intervals throughout the 30-year project and are contingent upon participants complying with management activities. Contracts with participants
require vigilance as one of the management activities and
requireme replanting in the case of unexpected tree loss. To demonstrate long-term ownership of land, participants must hold title to the land on which the reforestations are located, obtain certificates of legitimate possession issued by the corresponding municipality or, in the case of community-owned lands, obtain official authorization from the community’s governing entity.
Finally, the organizations of the Sierra Gorda Consortium operate long-term successful programs of enforcement of environmental laws and regulations as well as environmental education with substantial community involvement that have resulted in the substantial reduction of illegal logging in the area.
After the 30-year contracts with landowners and landholders have expired the lands will be subject to forestry laws and regulations that only permit clearing or harvesting within reforestations at sustainable levels consistent with protecting the health of the reforestations.
At the time of an offset agreement participants enter into a 30-year contract with Bosque Sustentable agreeing to manage their reforestations for optimum carbon sequestration (this includes pruning, and periodic thinning to maximize tree growth) as well as carrying out the necessary monitoring activities.
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e. Are Sierra Gorda Carbon Offsets additional?
Yes. Our project meets the additionality requirements established by the Clean Development Mechanism. The incentive from planned sale of carbon offsets was seriously considered as part of the project activity as evidenced by several documents including the Reserve Management Program, published in 1999, which includes carbon capture as an activity, and “The Potential of Carbon Sequestering Projects in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, East Central Mexico,”(D. Neil Bird and Roberto Pedraza Munoz, December 1997).
We have demonstrated through a barrier analysis that these lands would not have been converted to forests without the implementation of our project. Degraded soils and subsistence agriculture would not allow forests to regenerate naturally, and the landowners did not have the financial resources or technical knowledge to successfully plant and manage reforestations on their own. For more information about these analyses please
request our Project Design Document.
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f. How will my carbon offset donation be invested?
The participant or participants providing your offset will receive 60% of the total offset amount in payments to be made over the course of 30 years (the period of the contract with the participant). The participant/s will receive
larger payments during the early years when the reforestation requires the most work.
Subsequent samller payments will be made every five years.
Bosque Sustentable will receive the other 40% of the total. This money will be directly invested in
expanding and continuing the reforestation project. It will be used to
pay for personnel, transportation and equipment costs for enrolling new participants in the program, providing technical assistance to participants for the establishment and management of their plantations, conducting periodic monitoring of the plantations and preparing monitoring reports. Bosque Sustentable will also use
offset donation money to finance periodic third-party field verification, and cover promotional and administrative costs corresponding to the project.
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g. What type of confirmation will we obtain for our offset?
You will receive a certificate that includes your name and the amount of your offset, measured in tons of carbon dioxide (CO2e) Click here to see an example certificate.
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h. Are Sierra Gorda Carbon Credits validated?
Our project is designed to meet the highest voluntary carbon market standards. The product Sierra Gorda Premium Carbon has received a joint validation under the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Project Standards (CCBA) and the Verified Carbon Standard (VCS).
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i. Are Sierra Gorda Carbon Credits verified?
The carbon sequestered through our reforestation project is currently internally verified by Bosque Sustentable, the local forestry operator providing the carbon offsets. Forestry technicians from Bosque Sustentable carry out yearly inspections of approximately 20% of the reforestations This monitoring follows the steps outlined in Márquez, 2000 (http://www.winrock.org/fnrm/files/fundacionsolar.pdf) and/or Pearson et al, 2005 (http://www.winrock.org/Ecosystems/files/Winrock-BioCarbon_Fund_Sourcebook-compressed.pdf), in accordance with the small-scale reforestation rules under the Kyoto Protocol. External verifications will also be carried out periodically.
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j. What is the donation price per ton?
Our donation price for offsets from resforestations is US $20 per ton of CO2e.
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k. How do
I make a donation for an offset?
Once you have calculated how many tons of CO2 emissions you would like to offset,
you must register to carry out the donation as well as save a record of
your activities. Once your deposit is confirmed, you will received an
electronic certificate outlining the details of your offset, as well as
a receipt. Donations in Mexico are tax-deductible through Bosque
Sustentable A.C. and in early 2011 in the USA Eco Sierra Gorda will be
able to receive tax deductible donations, too.
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l. Can Sierra Gorda Offsets be resold?
Sierra Gorda offsets are designed for individuals, businesses and organizations that want to offset their own emissions, or make offsets on behalf of others. As the offsets are made available via tax-deductible donations and are permanently retired.
They are not designed for resale by businesses that want to purchase and resell offsets for a profit.
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