3.29.2007 - 03:10pm ET

(CSRwire) PANAMA - March 29, 2007 - Futuro Forestal and CO2OL-USA announced today that they are the first private forestry services company worldwide to achieve certification under the new, comprehensive, Carbon Forestry Project Standards promulgated by the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA). The CCBA is a partnership between research institutions, corporations and environmental groups, including BP, Conservation International, Intel and the Nature Conservancy. The CCB Standards demonstrate how well-designed land-management projects can deliver compelling financial, environmental and sustainable development benefits in addition to combating climate change.

Futuro Forestal (www.futuroforestal.com) has revolutionized tropical forestry activities and carbon sequestration since it was founded in 1994. Futuro Forestal reforests degraded and abandoned lands with native forest species, and actively incorporates biodiversity and social issues into the design of its activities. The project’s use of native forest species, organic fertilizer, hand tools, and change of land use from harmful practices like cattle ranching, have led to improved soil and fresh-water quality, reduced erosion, improved estuarine water quality in the mangrove ecosystem, and improved biodiversity habitat and corridors. In addition, the project is providing new skills training and employment for local communities, which has helped reverse the emigration trend to city slums from rural communities. The company is also working towards improved transparency in community-based governance and the construction of social infrastructure. Currently, the company manages over 700 hectares of reforested land in Panama, with more than 4,000 hectares planned to be managed by 2019, which will translate to about 700,000 tons of sequestered CO2.

CO2OL-USA (www.co2ol-usa.com) is Futuro Forestal’s technical forestry and marketing partner for its Carbon Sequestration activities. Keegan Eisenstadt, President of CO2OL-USA, has worked extensively on tropical forestry projects and climate-related forestry activities throughout the world. He facilitated the CCB Standards certification activity, and believes that the CCB Standards are a new and important tool for carbon forestry projects to demonstrate their value and their legitimacy from a financial, environmental, and social perspective. Mr. Eisenstadt says: "We sought CCB Certification because we wanted to see a more stringent standard applied to tropical forestry activities, and the CCB Standards fit the bill as a robust, yet workable, framework for evaluating multiple-benefit forestry projects. As more projects are designed and evaluated with the CCB Standards, and as awareness grows, we are hopeful that the CCB Standards will play a key role in steering international finance towards high-quality, sustainable tropical forestry projects." Toby Janson-Smith, Director of the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance notes that "it is satisfying to see that companies like Futuro Forestal/CO2OL-USA are making a difference on the ground."

About CCB Certification:

To become certified under the CCB Standards, independent 3rd-party auditors must determine that the project satisfies fifteen key criteria, which demonstrate the project will help mitigate climate change, conserve biodiversity, and improve socio-economic conditions for local communities. The mandatory criteria further ensure that environmental and social monitoring programs are in place, no invasive plant or tree species are used, local stakeholders are appropriately involved in the design of the project, and there are no unresolved land tenure issues. The CCB Standards also address the key carbon-related issues of additionality, leakage, measurement & monitoring, and permanence.

About CCBA:

The Climate, Community & Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA/www.climate-standards.org) seeks to promote the development of multiple-benefit forestry projects around the world and the creation of supportive policy and market incentives to foster such activities. CCBA Members are: BP, Conservation International, GFA, Hamburg Institute for International Economics, Intel, Pelangi, SC Johnson, The Nature Conservancy, WCS and Weyerhaeuser. Advising Institutions are: CIFOR (Center for International Forestry Research), CATIE (Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center) and the World Agroforestry Centre (WAC/ICRAF).

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