Mexico Forest Protocol
The Climate Action Reserve (Reserve) has been developing a Mexico Forest Protocol for over 18 months with a diverse set of stakeholders, including government agencies, nonprofit organizations, private sector, and landowners, both in the United States and in Mexico. The development of the protocol has sought to align with Mexico’s National REDD+ strategy and with California’s Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) in an effort to link activities in Mexico to California’s compliance market.
The protocol provides standardized guidance for projects within a REDD+ framework. Communal lands and private ownerships are eligible to develop projects. A territorial baseline approach to the project design enables both sequestration and activities that avoid emissions to be credited, allowing avoided deforestation, improved forest management, reforestation, agroforestry, and urban forestry to be included in the project design.
Many provisions in the protocol design are built on existing programs in Mexico in an effort to harmonize activities for management planning with access to a carbon market. This includes linking project baseline criteria to existing data in assessment areas, referred to as forest management units (UMAFORS), aligning much of the inventory design with Mexico’s national inventory and with requirements for management planning, and relying on required management plans and agency oversight to address issues of carbon rights and project permanence. Additional verification guidance for the protocol will be developed in early 2012.
The draft Mexico Forest Protocol Version 1.0 is available below for public review.
- Draft Mexico Forest Protocol Version 1.0 (November 11, 2011)
- Draft Mexico Forest Protocol Version 1.0 – Spanish (November 30, 2011)
- Draft Mexico Forest Protocol One-Page Summary (November 28, 2011)
- Draft Mexico Forest Protocol One-Page Summary – Espanol (November 28, 2011)
- Draft Mexico Forest Protocol Overview Presentation (November 21, 2011)
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Public Comments
The public comment period closed on January 20, 2012. Submitted comments are available below and staff responses to public comments will be available soon.
Public Workshop
The Reserve will host a public workshop to provide a venue for feedback on the draft Mexico Forest Project Protocol. Details will be posted here once meeting date and time are finalized.
Workgroup
The Reserve has assembled a workgroup to assist with the development of the adaptation of the Reforestation, Avoided Deforestation, and Sustainable Forest Management project types. The workgroup includes:
| Alianza para la Conservación Sierra Gorda | Pronatura Mexico |
| Ambio | Pronatura Sur |
| Baker & McKenzie | Rainforest Alliance |
| Border Environment Cooperation Commission (BECC/COCEF) | Reforestamos Mexico |
| Centro Mexicano de Derecho Ambiental | Servicios Ambientales de Oaxaca |
| CONAFOR | South Pole Carbon Asset Management |
| Consejo Civil Mexicano para la Silvicultura Sostenible | Terra Global Capital |
| EcoLogic Development Fund | The Nature Conservancy |
| Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) | Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) |
| Gold Standard | Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) |
| Governors’ Climate and Forests Taskforce (GCF) | World Wildlife Fund |
| Natura Proyectos Ambientales |
Protocol Development Process
The timeline for the Mexico Forest Protocol development process will be updated as the process moves forward.
| Protocol Kickoff Meeting | April 12, 2010 |
| Staff Forms Stakeholder Workgroup | June 2010 |
| Staff Drafts Guidance and Standards for Forest Projects | June 2010 – July 2011 |
| Workgroup Process to Refine Draft Protocol | July 2010 – December 2011 |
| Public Comment Period | December 2011 – January 2012 |
| Revision of Protocol Based on Public Comment | February 2012 – April 2012 |
| Further Public Feedback and Revision | May 2012 – June 2012 |
| Board Review for Approval to Initiate Pilot Activities | June 27, 2012 |
| Initiation of Pilot Activity Phase | August 2012 |
Subcommittee Resources
- The Mexico Forest Protocol Workgroup is seeking to address environmental and social safeguards through an existing standard. The current thinking in the workgroup is that a project would need to be certified through a third-party standard in order to participate in a Climate Action Reserve forest carbon project. In order to evaluate the existing standards, the principles addressed in each standard were documented and assessed as to whether objective criteria and indicators are provided in the standard to ensure that verification of the principle would be consistently applied. The assessment of the existing standards will also consider the expected explicit requirements of the compliance market in California related to environmental and social integrity. The standards reviewed include:
- Environmental Safeguards Comparison Matrix
- Environmental Safeguards – FSC Standard
- Environmental Safeguards – Gold Standard
- Environmental Safeguards – REDD+ Standard
- Environmental Safeguards – REDD + Brazilian Amazon Standards
- Environmental Safeguards – Plan Vivo Standards
- Envornmental Safeguards – CC&B Standards
- Social Safeguards Comparison Matrix
- Social Safeguards – FSC Standard
- Social Safeguards- Gold Standard
- Social Safeguards – REDD+ Standard
- Social Safeguards – REDD+ Brazilian Amazon Standards
- Social Safeguards – Plan Vivo Standards
- Social Safeguards – CC&B Standards
- Climate, Community, and Biodiversity (Project and Jurisdiction)
- Plan Vivo
- The Gold Standard
- Forest Stewardship Council
- REDD+ Amazon Standards (Brazil)
The discussion is ongoing as the workgroup considers which principles are most important to align with Mexico’s REDD+ Vision and with California’s cap and trade regulation.
Workgroup Meeting Documents/Resources
Workgroup Meeting 10 – 8/18/2011
The workgroup meeting will take place Thursday, August 18th at 9:30am Mexico City time (7:30am PDT). If you will be attending remotely, please register by following the link: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/327891034.
La próxima reunión del grupo de trabajo llevará a cabo jueves, 18 de agosto, a las 9:30 de la mañana, hora de México (7:30am PDT, hora de California). Si va a asistir vía remota (internet) por favor, inscríbase con el enlace https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/327891034.
To ensure that the protocol development process is transparent and open, the Reserve makes available to the general public documentation from the workgroup portion of protocol development as it occurs. Click here to view meeting notes and other resources from all past workgroup meetings. For added transparency, interested individuals may also participate in workgroup calls/webinars as an “observer.” Please note that observers will be in listen only mode during calls/webinars.”
Other Resources
If you are interested in reviewing the existing US Forest Project Protocol or the US Project Implementation Agreement (PIA) both documents are available in Spanish and English.
U.S. Forest Project Protocol version 3.1 (October 22, 2009)
Protocolo de Proyectos Forestales Version 3.1 (October 22, 2009)
US Project Implementation Agreement – Espanol
US Project Implementation Agreement – English
Mexico Forest Project Protocol Statement of Intent (March 4, 2010)
Declaracion de Intenciones (March 4, 2010)
If you have questions about the Mexico Forest Protocol, please contact:
John Nickerson at john@climateactionreserve.org
The Reserve at [English] 213-891-1444, Press 3, or policy@climateactionreserve.org
The Reserve at [Espanol] 213-891-1444, Oprima 6, o reserve@climateactionreserve.org