The project is located in the Cerro Chato/Valentines & Regis/Garao regions of Uruguay, on an area of land comprising a total of 21,298 ha which was previously under extensive grazing by beef cattle. Afforestation activities carried out by this project remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it in different carbon pools (living above-ground and below-ground biomass, soil, litter, non-tree vegetation, dead wood and harvested wood products). Monitoring will cover carbon stock changes for living above-ground, litter and dead wood pools. Below ground biomass is estimated indirectly based on above-ground biomass measurements. The main objectives of the project activity are wood production, land restoration and carbon sequestration through afforestation.
The project location is marked red above.
Sequestering carbon through biomass is the most cost-effective means that we currently have to remove emissions already present in the atmosphere. In this regard, afforestation projects are of high interest to Offsetra. We chose this project because it balances carbon removal with economic and social impact in a way that is sustainable long term. We were also impressed by its monitoring plan and the fact that it had achieved Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) certification, on top of being VCS certified.
When establishing a new forest on degraded landscapes monitoring is critical to ensure that tree growth progresses optimally. In this regard the project conducts the following activities:
Utilizing satellite imagery tools from the Global Forest Watch, Offsetra analyzed the project areas to determine whether any forest loss has occurred. Forest loss is represented by pink coloring below:
As can be seen, while surrounding areas have experienced some forest loss since 2012, the project areas themselves have not - a testament to the project's strong monitoring plan to ensure forested areas are protected and can sequester carbon as planned.
Furthermore, the establishment of forest which can be sustainably harvested has direct economic and social benefits to the local community. The ‘Guanaré’ project activity will generate several job opportunities, creating nearly 1,000 job positions when sustainable production is reached. The vast majority of employees will be hired by businesses registered in Uruguay as “PYMES” (small and medium sized companies), mostly run by families.
The Afforestation on Degraded Grasslands project holds the highly esteemed Climate, Community & Biodiversity (CCB) Standard.