Panama Reforestation Carbon Project

Project details
Start date: 
April 2010
Project name: 
Panama Reforestation Carbon Project
Carbon Yield: 
110,170 tCO2e with projections of a further 20,000 tCO2e per year
Project type: 
Reforestation and Sustainable Farming
Standard: 
Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) – Gold standard; Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
Verification: 
FSC – 1998, 2003; CCBA - 2007

The Panama Reforestation Carbon Project is reforesting degraded and abandoned cattle pastures and practicing sustainable forestry in the pacific low-lands of Panama.  The lowland rainforest areas have previously been logged, farmed and grazed extensively over the past 200 years. The project plants over 50 native rainforest species, returning the land to diverse forest.

Environmental Co-benefits

  • Provides habitat and migratory corridors for native flora and fauna, as evidenced by the return of ocelots and spider monkeys to the project area
  • Stabilizes soils, reduces erosion and increases soil fertility
  • Protects downstream regions of the watershed, including vital and threatened coastal mangrove forests

Social Co-benefits

  • Reversing the trend of rural-to-urban migration
  • Providing higher wages and benefits to local workers
  • Employing a high proportion of indigenous people and women
  • Training employees in nursery operation, forestry, and fire prevention, as well as literacy and family health
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