Carbon Offset Strategy
Carbon offset can be achieved through protecting existing carbon ‘stocks’, contained in soils, forests and other vegetation, where these are in danger of being lost, and/or through enhancing carbon ‘sinks’ through reforestation and agroforestry programmes which increase the terrestrial absorption of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. So far, the potential of carbon sequestration projects as a means of offsetting carbon dioxide emissions has been little explored and very few organisations have practical experience in the field.
Hard data on which to base estimates of carbon stocks and carbon sequestration rates in various ecosystems are also in very short supply. Ecologica is very much at the forefront of carbon sequestration initiatives worldwide, and its ground-breaking Bananal Island Carbon Sequestration Project is providing much-needed documentation of sequestration in tropical forests and savannah (cerrado) ecosystems.