Envirotrade, a UK company, has developed a business model based on biosequestration and Payments for Environmental Services (PES) - the sale of carbon offsets to businesses and individuals to support the conservation and management of existing forests and the planting of new ones. Biosequestration is just one component of the Envirotrade Carbon Livelihoods model. It is not a substitute for resolute international action to address the central issues associated with human-induced climate change. It is however a way in which concerned corporations and individuals can link up with forest farmers in developing countries to change the way in which we use natural resources and impact on our environment.

Global benefits

The revival of agroforestry among impoverished, malnourished communities is giving thousands of families an income and a regular food supply. And by generating crops that enrich rather than exhaust the fragile forest soils, it is giving a new lease of life to endangered plant and animal species. Envirotrade's unique approach addresses poverty alleviation, sustainable development and bio diversity conservation, while also tackling carbon emissions in conservation areas recovering from protracted conflict. It is a new way of doing business which offers a new way of life for individuals, forest communities, and the natural environment.

A transactional solution

Our business model has been developed from the worldwide trade in carbon offsets pioneered by the Kyoto treaty on climate change. Local farmers and forest communities, who have been largely excluded from the complex mechanisms developed to deal with climate change, manage the planting and growth of trees in return for proceeds from the sale of CO2 offsets to customers in the developed world. Individuals and companies effectively invest in new forests and agroforestry that will absorb the carbon dioxide generated by their business activities through a voluntary mechanism or partnership. We also work with forest farmers to change the way their land is used and help them to boost their crop yields by the cultivation of nitrogen-fixing trees and plants, which enrich the soil and slow down deforestation.

Making the switch

By becoming custodians of forests and trained crop farmers, local people make a significant commitment to their environment. In return, they secure the regular income and stable, sustainable food supply they need to survive. The money they earn from CO2 offset sales allows them to make the switch from 'slash-and-burn' agriculture to sustainable food production. And with every new tree they plant they are helping to make the earth's air cleaner for the rest of us.

Think global - Act local

The Envirotrade business model offers a unique approach to poverty alleviation by building sustainable livelihoods rather than fostering dependence. Among our customers who have entered into this unique partnership with forest communities are the Creative Artists Agency Foundation in Hollywood, The MAN Group, the IIED, U&W, Carbon Neutral Company, Trans Global Aviation and personalities like the Rolling Stones' Ronnie Wood. In Mozambique the original project in Gorongosa has been expanded to the Zambezi Delta Complex and the Quirimbas National Park. New projects are being developed in sub-Saharan countries such as Senegal and the Sudan .

A Carbon Trust to Safeguard Carbon Income

The Mozambique Carbon Livelihoods Trust (MCLT) was launched in 2007 to ensure that the community and individual farmer proceeds of carbon offset sales from Carbon Livelihoods projects in Mozambique were safeguarded. Approximately one third of the proceeds of any carbon sale go directly to this fund and are paid out to individual farmers over seven years, to the community trust funds annually and in other payments for forest management and conservation.

The Carbon Livelihoods Trust will work closely with associated community associations to ensure that the sustainable livelihoods are built and that far reaching land-use change takes place in target communities in and around protected areas.

It sounds too good to be true: a way of tackling not one but several threats to mankind at once. The money that communities in Mozambique earn from CO2 offset sales through our Carbon Livelihoods Programme, allows them to make the switch from 'slash-and-burn' agriculture to sustainable food production.