Chris Stephenson SHAMBA

An Introduction to SHAMBA

Insetting Meeting - November 2014 Christopher Stephenson, Plan Vivo Foundation

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Contents

• Background info

• Carbon quantification tools: relevance to Plan Vivo Standard and insetting

• Evolution of SHAMBA

• Current status

• Next steps

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Background Info

• More than 3 billion people live in rural areas, and for roughly 80% of these people agriculture is the main source of income and employment (FAO)

• Food production is responsible for more than 70% of fresh water consumption, 75 % of deforestation and 19–29 % of all anthropogenic GHG emissions (CGIAR)

• Current global consumption trends indicate food production may need to increase by 70% by 2050

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The link to Plan Vivo

• Plan Vivo is focused on improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers & community groups with a participatory approach to PES project development

• Over the last 17 years Plan Vivo has supported more than 10,000 smallholders and community groups and issued credits for 1.9 million tonnes of CO2 emission reductions

• Flexible approaches to land use and forestry activities

• Efforts to keep transaction costs low

• Equitable benefit sharing arrangements

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Carbon quantification tools

• Need to strike a balance between assurance of mitigation benefits vs practicality

• To date, soil carbon stocks largely ignored due to complexity, technical expertise and cost

• Need for scalable, affordable methods for projects to quantify carbon benefits

• End users require simple solutions to be successfully adopted

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SHAMBASHAMBA: ‘Small-Holder Agriculture Monitoring & Baseline Assessment’

Aim: Provide an alternative source of mitigation finance for (climate smart) agricultural practices

• Accessible to non-specialists

• Current focus on Sub-Saharan Africa

• Applicable across a broad range of environmental conditions and land use interventions

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Evolution of SHAMBA

• Phase I: Supported by PWC and Rockefeller Foundation– 15 sites in Malawi– Worked with ICRAF Malawi, Concern Universal, FRIP

• Phase II: Supported by CCAFS (CGIAR)– Sub-Saharan Africa.– Working with Bioclimate, LTS Intl., Ecometrica

• University of Edinburgh team working with Plan Vivo Foundation to develop a broadly applicable methodology to assess and monitor mitigation benefits achieved by smallholders changing their agricultural practices

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Current Status• SHAMBA Methodology

– Makes use of aboveground biomass models as well as the RothC model for estimating changes in soil carbon stocks from implementation of CSA practices, and modules developed by the IPCC for non-CO2

• Plan Vivo Approved Approach– The SHAMBA approach has been designed to meet the GHG

accounting requirements of the Plan Vivo Standard and is currently being peer-reviewed. Expected end Dec 2014.

– Includes default parameters for Sub-Saharan Africa. • SHAMBA Tool

– GUI tool developed in Python

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OE Platform

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Incorporates rainfall…

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… and soil conditions

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… as well as site specific info

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Example project - Uganda

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Climate Benefits

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e.g. Maesopsis Woodlot

• Baseline emissions from gradual soil degradation: 149 tCO2 over 20 year period

• Difference between baseline & project scenario is 10.6 tCO2/ha/yr

• Can be used at the start of the project (design phase) when entering into PES agreements with smallholder farmers

• Can also be used as a monitoring tool • Transparent way of making information available to

validators, those developing insetting projects and buyers more generally.

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Using SHAMBA

1. Select precise location

Use web-based mapping software

and geo-referenced coordinates

2. Input baseline activity and planned interventions (e.g. Maesopsis eminii on degraded land)

Input parameters depend on species, expected growth rates, management practices such as:

stocking densities, irrigation, thinning, pruning and fertiliser

regimes, etc.

3. Emissions reductions /

removals displayed

Different scenarios can be tested and resulting carbon benefits used to develop a certified GHG

removal or emissions reduction project

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Next Steps

• The next phase of development is a web-based version of the SHAMBA Tool and a web-interface

• Applicability to other geographical regions

• Additional land use practices• Reporting metrics describing

resilience & yields

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Further Info…

• SHAMBA methodology:Casey Ryan (University of Edinburgh)[email protected]

• For assistance developing projects that use the SHAMBA methodology or the Plan Vivo Approved Approach: Nicholas Berry (Bioclimate) [email protected]

http://shambatool.wordpress.com