Te Scolel Te Plan Vivo project involves more than 670 pro- ducers and nearly 50 communities in the central and northern Chiapas and northeast Oaxaca areas of southern Mexico. It is a model for community-based, sustainable land use and seques- tration projects in developing countries.
Te project, established in 1996 and operating on an entirely commercial, self-sufficient basis since 2002, aims to deliver a wide range of CO2
sequestration and emissions-reduction ben-
efits from changes in land use activities. Local people involved in the scheme – the so-called producers – combine existing land uses and agricultural activities with sequestration projects such as the creation and restoration of indigenous forest and wood- land as well as agroforestry activities. Most are small-scale farm- ers, forest dwellers and other land users with recognised land tenure or user rights. Altogether the Plan Vivo project brings together about 2 400 Mayan and Mestizo families.
Under the scheme, sequestration and emission reductions are ‘bundled’ together with social and other benefits: together the delivery of these services combines to make up credits – Plan Vivo certificates – paid to producers. Over the years the project has developed rigorous carbon accounting procedures with producers being paid for the supply of ecosystem services only at the end of a certification and monitoring process.
Project coordinators – usually local or national NGOs, or non- profit organizations – recruit producers and coordinate training. Tey negotiate purchase-contracts with buyers of credits in the carbon market and oversee carbon payments too. Plan Vivo is estimated to have been responsible for sequestering many thou- sands of tonnes of CO2
. By the end of 2010 the project had sold
more than 432 166 Verified Emission Reduction offset credits (VERs) on the carbon market. It has also brought about major changes in land use and various social benefits.
42 VITAL GRAPHICS ON PAYMENT FOR ECOSYSTEM SERVICES