NEW DELHI: The Delhi government's urban forestry project in the wasteland of Deramandi has been chosen by the United Nations Framework Convention Climate Change (UNFCC) for clean development mechanism (CDM). This essentially means that the project will be entitled to carbon credits for the extent of reduction in carbon emissions, which could be traded in the international carbon market for money.
The forest department officials, who recently learnt about their selection, said Delhi's is the only such project to be selected from India.
The Deramandi project focuses on rejuvenating grasslands and planting native varieties. The land, spanning across 358 hectares in the southeastern part of the southern Aravali ridge, is very close to Delhi-Haryana border.
The project design document shows the region had a flourishing flora and fauna till 1900 AD but increased urbanization and open cast quartzite mines resulted in encroachment and degradation. In the absence of adequate staff, the government handed the project to the Eco-Task Force (ETF) of Indian Territorial Army, with plantation being done mainly by former Army personnel from ETF under the guidance of the forest department. The project, which was launched in 2008, has been planned for a 30-year period. Between 2008 and 2013, it may have managed to save 1,992 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, and can cut down on almost 7,873 tonnes of CO2 in 2018.
"We are very excited. Our project was accepted in 2012 but it takes a few months for all parties to give their consent. If no objections are raised, the project gets a final clearance for operating under CDM," said G N Sinha, the head of forest department.
The project is estimated to save 12,138 metric tonnes CO2 equivalent per annum but the forest department staff said it's too early to project how much money will the savings will bring.
"We have not reached that stage. There are different carbon markets and rates. For instance, premium market rate would be different from the voluntary market rates so we can estimate the earnings, which are dependent on the carbon market rate when we actually decide to float our carbon emission reductions (CERs)," said S Rajesh, deputy conservator of forests of the department, who is working on the project.
