ABSTRACT
The Framework Convention on Climate Change, or Kyoto Protocol (McGivem, 1998), formalized the “net” approach to carbon offsets, allowing emissions from fossil fuels to be sequestered elsewhere, primarily through reforestation. It also established legally binding reduction targets thereby creating new markets for forest services (Hedger, 1998). Mitigation of atmospheric change through forestry initiatives is viewed as a viable approach to carbon offsets and many such projects are under way (Kinsman and Trexler, 1993; Dixon et al., 1993; Tipper and De Jong, 1998) including in East Africa (Verweij and Emmer, 1998). These projects assume that massive carbon stocks were lost from tropical forests to the atmosphere in the past and that it is practical and economical to reaccumulate carbon in this biome. Much evidence exists to support this view. Sanchez et al. (1994) estimate that over 600 Mha of the 1500 Mha (= 106 ha) of the original tropical forest zone is now deforested and that 250 Mha of degraded lands are eligible for reclamation. Greenhouse gas mitigation through tropical forestry is sufficiently recognized that the Swiss-based firm Societe Generate de Surveillance offers a verification service for project emission reduction targets (Trines, 1998).
