A previous version of this story said the project is registered as a pilot under the Plan Vivo PV Standard. That is not correct.
A Singapore-based project developer has planned to rehabilitate red panda habitats in Nepal, with funding to come through the sale of biodiversity credits generated by the project.
Singapore-based VNV Advisory Services is working on the Red Panda Revival Project (RPRP). The project, to be launched in Q2 this year, will focus on enhancing red panda habitat conservation management by combating the impacts of human activities on their habitats.
Through the project, the firm intends to generate habitat restoration credits, biodiversity conservation credits, community engagement credits, and sustainable livelihood credits, the head of partnerships at VNV, Kasturi Navalkar, told Carbon Pulse.
According to VNV, in the last 20 years there has been a 50% decline in the global red panda population and 70% of red panda habitats lie outside officially protected areas in the Himalayan nation of Nepal.
“Red pandas would take the role of an indicator species – highlighting its declining population to underscore broader ecological concerns in the Himalayas,” Navalkar said.
“The project is highly community-focused and engaged via Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs), who act as the implementing bodies on the ground.”
RPRP initially aims to cover about 1,000 hectares of land in Nepal and involve around 50 CFUGs.
Navalkar added that CFUGs will be responsible for establishing committees within the ecosystem where the project is executed with an aim to integrate “the project’s beneficial activities into their routine forest management practices”.
According to Navalkar, each biodiversity conservation credit will be measured based on the number of red pandas protected or habitats conserved.
“Each credit represents a unit of biodiversity conservation work, such as establishing new red panda refuge areas or implementing sustainable forestry practices,” she said.
Further, the habitat restoration credits will be measured based on the area of ecosystem restored, and each credit will represent a unit of land which is contributing to the restoration of red panda habitat.
While community engagement credits will be based on the number of local communities involved, sustainable livelihood credits will be based on the number of local livelihoods supported or created, “such as supporting new red panda tourism businesses or community-led markets for traditional medicinal plants.”
VNV expects conglomerates from the metals and mining industries along with fast-moving consumer goods companies (FMCGs) in Asia to be the buyers of these credits.
Last year, VNV also launched a project in West Papua, aiming to protect and restore coral reefs through the sales of biodiversity credits.
The firm, which has operated in the carbon market for years, intends to expand its projects across South Asia and get more involved in the biodiversity credit market.
By Nikita Pandey – nikita@carbon-pulse.com
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