A German non-profit and a Swiss foundation have purchased the first batch of nature units generated from a conservation project in Malawi.
Bonn-based Sun Institute Environment and Sustainability, established in 2014 by the Deutsche Post Foundation, and Geneva-headquartered Awe for Nature Foundation bought 58 and 144 Verifiable Nature Units (VNUs), respectively, to finance biodiversity protection efforts at the Majete Wildlife Reserve.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Under the scheme, developed by South African conservation organisation African Parks and Germany-based tech startup The Landbanking Group, each VNU represents one square kilometre of land conserved or restored for a year.
“We are delighted to be among the first to support African Parks’ VNUs,” said Awe for Nature.
“VNUs are exactly the sort of novel financing tools we believe are necessary to protect vital biodiversity and wilderness, and that will help us transition to a global nature economy.”
Project outcomes will be determined based on two factors – habitat intactness, monitored through remote sensing, and indicator species presence and abundance.
Indicator species are often used to measure the health of ecosystems in which they live, and have been used to inform different biodiversity credit frameworks, including the Indicator Species Biodiversity Methodology developed by US-based Savimbo, and adopted by standard Cercarbono and registry ICR.
GOOD FOR CLAIMS
Under the VNU framework, each transacted unit will include details on the project area, including location, designation, ecosystem services, and historical degradation, as well as socio-economic linkages and scale of intervention, according to African Parks.
The first park to come under the organisation’s management in 2003, the Majete Wildlife Reserve covers some 70,000 hectares, and is home to zebras, buffalos, kudus, and sable antelopes.
African Parks, which manages nearly 20 million ha in 12 countries, recently started developing REDD avoided deforestation projects, with three sites generating more than 400,000 credits between October and December last year.
It announced the VNU framework earlier this year at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
VNUs are also being piloted in a separate reserve in South Africa by the Africa’s Most Endangered Species (AMES) Habitat fund, with a focus on rhino conservation.
Africa’s nature credit markets have suffered so far from poor demand, particularly from European and North American companies, who are more keen to invest where their supply chains have an impact, though several initiatives have emerged in recent months to unlock transactions.
Earlier this month, Zimbabwean elephant rewilding company Wild is Life told Carbon Pulse it is preparing to generate biodiversity credits from a total of 84,000 ha.
Meanwhile, Tanzania-based developer Kijani Pamoja partnered with CreditNature to launch a pilot in the Kilimanjaro region, with the African Natural Capital Alliance (ANCA), an African-led initiative whose members together manage assets of $390 billion, among potential buyers for the credits.
ANCA recently said it plans to establish a comprehensive nature data platform for the continent, in a bid to drive investment into nature-based solutions such as carbon and biodiversity credits.
By Sergio Colombo – sergio@carbon-pulse.com
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