Tanzania: Villagers to Secure World Bank 'Green Rewards'

BY FINNIGAN WA SIMBEYE, 24 APRIL 2014

TANZANIA will soon sign an emission reduction purchase agreement with the World Bank which allows villagers to get compensation for climate friendly actions including conservation of forests.

World Bank Senior Communication Officer for Climate Change and Finance Department, Ms Isabel Hagbrink, said negotiations into the deal are at final stages.

"It seems we are very close to signing an emission reduction purchase agreement (ERPA) in Tanzania, and I will send you more information when it is available," Ms Hagbrink said in an emailed message while responding to 'Daily News' questions.

She, however, did not give details of the agreement and instead referred this writer to National Focal Point, Mr Evarist Nashanda, in Vice President's Office who is yet to respond to issues raised.

But according to World Bank projects, a renewable energy programme under Rural Energy Agency (REA) is lined up for endorsement.

"The Seller Participant is REA. The programme will promote the implementation of small scale renewable energy, primarily hydropower, throughout the country," the project's brief posted on CFU said.

A World Bank loan to channel funding through financial intermediaries has already been completed, together with subsequent funding to strengthen the capacity of the REA to provide financial and technical assistance to potential project developers, the brief said.

The deals is sealed, Tanzania will become the fourth country in East Africa to sign up to the lucrative arrangement which allows World Bank buy carbon credits with money from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The World Bank Carbon Finance Unit uses funds contributed by governments and companies in OECD to purchase project-based greenhouse gas emission reductions in developing countries and countries with economies in transition.

The emission reductions are purchased through one of the unit's carbon funds or facilities on behalf of the contributor, and within the framework of the Kyoto Protocols Clean Development Mechanism or Joint Implementation, the Carbon Finance Unit said in a recent statement.

The World Bank created the first carbon fund and today, the Bank is trustee of 15 carbon initiatives.

The first 10 carbon funds and facilities are capitalized at $2.3 billion (using exchange rates of 12/31/2012). These so-called Kyoto funds have supported more than 140 projects in 50+ countries.

Since 2000, these initiatives have reduced the equivalent of 187 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions through the projects they support.

The World Bank has also taken a leadership role in shaping the next generation of carbon instruments for the post-2012 period by developing new approaches to performance based payments.

New International Resource Panel Report Provides Routes to Integrating REDD+ into Green Economy Approaches

Geneva/Jakarta, 21 March 2014

 An investment of US $30 billion per year — under seven per cent of the US $480 billion paid in annual global fossil fuel subsidies — in the REDD+ forest conservation initiative can accelerate the global transition to green and sustainable growth and ensure the long-term wellbeing of tens of millions in developing countries, a new report released today said. 

Building Natural Capital: How REDD+ Can Support a Green Economy , a report by the International Resource Panel (IRP) and the UN-REDD Programme, outlines how integrating REDD+ programmes into a Green Economy approach can conserve and even boost the economic and social benefits forests provide to human society.  

The IRP report lays out recommendations to deliver the new integrated REDD+ and Green Economy approach, including better coordination, stronger private sector engagement, changes in fiscal incentive frameworks, greater focus on assisting policymakers to understand the role forests play in propping up economies, and equitable benefit sharing. The report stresses in particular the needs for a rights-based approach to ensure that benefits flow to the rural poor.