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ENVIRONMENT
With government assistance, Thai farmers can make significant income and contribute to a healthier planet through carbon credits, writes Nareerat Wiriyapong
Most Thai farmers plant trees and simply pray for good prices as their parents did for decades, but Sawai Sangsa-wang realised his trees are more valuable.
With the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) programme, also known as carbon credits, his perennial tree-planting not only produces income from payoon and teak, but he can also turn every tonne of carbon his plants reduce into income.
A Nakhon Si Thammarat native, Mr Sawai has grown trees most of his life. Last year, he started to grow more trees on his farmland in Chumphon once he learned about carbon credits.
A tree can help reduce 1.18 tonnes of carbon a year on average, acknowledged Mr Sawai, who is now the head of the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Co-operatives (BAAC) branch in Surat Thani.
''A company from Denmark has approached me through its agent in Singapore to buy credits generated from the plants,'' he said.
While the majority of Thais are not aware of carbon credits, Mr Sawai has become a role model and been provided opportunities through training in Japan to learn about the global carbon trading market and CDM.
CDM is a system designed to turn carbon reductions into credits that can be traded for money in an attempt to convince the international community to seriously help battle climate change. It allows Mr Sawai and his neighbours to sell carbon credits for their plants to individual buyers in developed countries who are committed to cut greenhouse gas emissions to a level that meets obligations under the Tokyo Protocol ratified in 2005.
Mr Sawai has formed a community of 9,000 farmers in the southern provinces of Chumphon, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Surat Thani, Ranong, the northern provinces of Phrae and Chiang Mai, as well some in the northeastern region. With a combined 70,000 rai of land, those farmers own 2.4 million trees altogether.
Thailand has approved 38 CDM projects, one of which has already traded the credits, with another 22 projects in the pipeline. These 38 projects are expected to reduce 2.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent per year, according to the Greenhouse Gas Management Organisation (TGO).
The majority of these projects are energy-efficient or renewable energies such as biomass, while other types of potential CDM activities including forestry have yet to be kick-started, said Mr Sawai.
Mr Sawai has called on politicians and related government agencies, such as the Royal Forestry Department under the Agriculture Ministry, and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, to issue guarantee letters for forestry projects to the United Nations to allow local farmers to be able to sell credits directly to international buyers. Without guarantees given by government agencies, farmers have to sell carbon credits through agents, resulting in significantly lower returns.
For example, the Danish buyer wants to buy credits generated from Thai forestry through its agent in Singapore.
Consequently, farmers have to pay the agent half of the carbon price for a project management contract. Under this condition, project developers in Thailand would only get 15 (780 baht) per tonne compared to the existing 30 sold in the international market, said Mr Sawai.
''I have contacted political parties for some time, asking them to consider offering support for our projects but so far no concrete decision has been made by either the government or other political figures,'' he said. ''The Finance Ministry should take the lead for providing us with financial support.
''Our projects have both economic and environmental benefits. Growing trees is good for the environment and in turn, we can earn for ourselves by doing so.''
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