The Danone Fund for Nature

After 10 years of cooperation and collaboration with the Ramsar Convention, a new agreement between Evian, Ramsar,  and IUCN,  the International Union for the  Conservation of Nature was signed in October 2008 during Ramsar’s 10th Meeting of the Conference of the Contracting Parties in South Korea. The three partners joined forces to fight against global warming through wetland restoration, a key contributor to carbon sequestration. In 2009, this restoration plan will focus on mangroves, which are particularly rich in carbon sequestration potential and play a key role in biodiversity. A pilot project is currently being set up for a year and will start off a 3-year-program

The objectives of this new agreement are to:

• Capitalize on the essential role of wetlands in carbon capture;
• Support programmes to store carbon by restoring wetlands;
• Help Danone to achieve its goal of becoming carbon-neutral by 2011.

This programme should deliver an amount of about a million Euros for the first-year period, helping to protect wetlands and improve knowledge of the important role that wetlands play in climate change.

The role of Ramsar in that tripartite agreement will be mainly to:

• Develop an expert panel with the Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) working on the methodology; and
• Inform and obtain the agreement of the involved countries

Activities

Workshop on wetlands and carbon offsets. As a contribution to the implementation of Danone/IUCN/Ramsar “Danone Fund for Nature” Initiative, next week the Ramsar Secretariat is hosting an expert workshop bringing together a wide group of authorities on wetland restoration, socio-economic valuation, carbon measurement and carbon markets to develop machanisms for crediting delivery of carbon offsets in mangroves and other wetlands, through wetland restoration projects that are in line with the principles and practices of the Ramsar Convention. The “Danone Fund for Nature” Initiative is a trilateral agreement, signed by the Ramsar Convention, IUCN and the private sector Danone Group at the Ramsar’s 10th Conference of Parties in Changwon, Republic of Korea in November 2008." Achieving Carbon offsets through mangroves and other wetlands" expert workshop; Danone Fund for Nature. 9-11 November 2009, in Gland, Switzerland. The final report of the workshop is now available for download in .pdf format here. [08/06/10]


The Senegalese Océanium Mangroves project:

The Fund is supporting a first pilot project on mangrove planting in Senegal. This pilot is providing key insights to help refining the Fund's approach to developing and investing in 'wet carbon' projects. The insights will support future efforts in mangrove systems as well as other wetland systems, both in Africa and elsewhere.

Next project:

By the end of 2009, a call of proposals for new pilot projects should be developed in order to choose a new initiative in 2010. Guidance developed by the expert panel should help to have a method to offset carbon.

Danone Fund for Nature: Call for new project proposals. “Imagine a project which restores a wetland, ensures tangible benefits for local communities and sequesters carbon. Imagine a unique partnership to develop and invest in such projects. Together the Danone Groupe, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands are promoting a new class of green development projects -- wet carbon. In the start-up phase, the partners are looking to learn by doing through developing and investing in pilot projects. If you have know of a potential wet carbon project, please have a look at our guidance for project proposal (PDF).”

Please submit your wet carbon project concept note in confidence to: Name: Carole Martinez, DFN Field Project Coordinator, Comité français de l’UICN, 26 Rue Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, 75005 Paris, France (carole.martinez@uicn.fr, Tel/Fax: +33 1 47 07 71 78, Mob: + 33 6 76 29 49 57 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              + 33 6 76 29 49 57      end_of_the_skype_highlighting, Skype: martinez.carole).