A Mexican non-profit has partnered with a France-based environmental company to launch a biodiversity and carbon credit project aimed at reintroducing spider monkeys on a 600-hectare area in Mexico, Carbon Pulse has learned.
Under the initiative, the Mexican Centre for Primate Rehabilitation (CMRP) will lead efforts to expand the spider monkey population in the Ejido Nuevo Malzaga area, near Santa Maria Jacatepec, in the state of Oaxaca, while Nat5 will assess biodiversity and carbon uplift through applying its own methodologies.
“The project will generate both biodiversity and carbon credits,” Guillermo Hinojos, founder of Nat5, told Carbon Pulse.
“We’re already in touch with a company in the transport sector that will buy these credits to help finance the initiative.”
Rather than seek issuance under an established carbon or environmental credit standard, the partners will mint their own units using the Ases On-Chain Protocol (aOCP) framework developed by Nat5’s parent company, the Franco-Mexican ecological engineering firm Ases.
The Usumacinta Biodiversity Conservation Group and the Commission of Natural Protected Areas (CONANP) will also participate in the project, according to Hinojos.
As well, the Ejido community will be trained to monitor the monkeys, define actions to control invasive species, manage firebreaks, remove combustible material, and control humidity in the area.
IMPACT ASSESSMENT
Prior to the launch of the project, CMRP and Nat5 carried out a joint study to measure the potential positive impact of spider monkeys on biodiversity and carbon sequestration.
“Using advanced remote sensing techniques, we monitored carbon stock changes over five years,” said Hinojos.
“Results showed that spider monkeys enhance biodiversity and carbon sequestration, as they play a crucial role in dispersing and preparing seeds and promoting the growth of new trees,” said Hinojos.
While the project’s main goal is advancing the conservation of spider monkeys, their reintroduction will have effects on carbon sequestration, he said.
During their preliminary study, CMRP and Nat5 assessed carbon stocks within the project area across 2018, 2022, and 2023, calculating the estimated impact of the introduction of monkeys per square metre per year, according to a document seen by Carbon Pulse.
“The carbon stock assessment conducted in this area demonstrated increased carbon levels over the assessed years, which are statistically significant,” said the document. “This observed increase can reasonably be attributed to the activities of the monkeys.”
Nat5, created last year by Ases, piloted its biodiversity credit methodology for nature conservation and restoration projects in May at three sites in the Mexican states of Durango, Oaxaca, and Chihuahua.
The company, which also offers nature-based carbon credits via its website, launched a separate project in Chihuahua to pilot its water credit methodology, which was greenlit by an academic body at the Faculty of Zootechnics and Ecology of Mexico’s Autonomous University of Chihuahua.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
** Click here to sign up to our twice-weekly biodiversity newsletter **
