News

Selling Carbon from tropical forests and peatlands - april 2008
An article looking at the link between carbon credits and sustainable land use (120 Kb).

Bio-rights study tour to Indonesia - December 2007
15 conservationists from Wetlands International, IUCN, WWF and Both Ends attended a study tour to Aceh and Central Java, Indonesia, to familiarise with the practical aspects of the Bio-rights approach. Bio-rights was successfully implemented in Pemalang, central Java nearly a decade ago, and the project area clearly demonstrates the positive long-term benefits of the approach. Project sites within the ongoing Green Coast project in Aceh were visited as well to familiarise with a variety of socio-economic and environmental issues that should be considered while implementing the mechanism. The study tour was greatly successful in that it enhanced knowledge sharing among participants and created momentum for the development of Bio-rights initiatives in the participants home countries.

Alcoa grant provided for Bio-rights manual - October 2007
Through a $ 10.000 fellowship, the Alcoa foundation has provided funding for the development of a Bio-rights manual, which helps practitioners to implement the Bio-rights approach within their own initiatives. The manual will provide a clear description of each distinct step of implementation, making access to the approach considerably easier for other organisations that wish to familiarize with the approach. The manual will be developed by Wetlands International with technical support provided by resource economists from IUCN and Alterra. It will be made available on this web site upon completion in late 2008.

Green Coast project enters second phase - April 2007
Green Coast, a large rapid response project focusing at restoring livelihoods and coastal restoration after the 2004 tsunami entered its second phase in April 2007. Phase II is a follow-up to the successful restoration of mangroves, coastal forests, sand dunes and coral reefs in India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand during the first two years of the project. Bio-rights played a prominent role in this initiative, having been successfully implemented in more than 150 project sites in Aceh, Indonesia. The project showed that Bio-rights can also be effective in disaster-struck regions with a short term need for humanitarian aid. The second phase of the initiative will focus on a small number of large-scale project sites in Indonesia. As in phase I, conservation and development activities will again be implemented through the Bio-rights approach. See www.greencoasts.org for more information.

Vodafone foundation supports Bio-rights - November 2006
Last month the Vodafone Netherlands foundation announced its support to the further development of the Bio-rights mechanism. Under its World of Difference initiative, the foundation provides funding for covering a one year staff position as well as additional budget for a range of expenses related to the further development and evaluation of the approach. This will help to draw lessons learned from earlier initiatives, to disseminate experiences and to upscale the initiative through the development of new large-scale proposals.

"Bio-Rights - the details " - August 2007
An article examining Bio-rights in detail (33 kB).

"Ontwikkelingshulp door verzakelijking" - August 2007
An article by Herbert Diemont, about the possibilities of development aid through business.
Please click the icon to read the article (19 kB, in Dutch).

progress reports for Mali and Kalimantan - April 2007
Positive and promising news regarding the projects in Mali and Kalimantan. Two online presentations have been prepared. Please click to our case studies page for the details.

Furthermore we have two document covering experiences with the Bio-rights concept in these 2 countries:

Indonesia -
Mali -

"The Carbon Time Bomb" - April 2006
Wageningen Update, the quarterly magazine for Wageningen UR, published this article on the 2006 spring issue.
The article, written bij Mr. Martin Woestenburg, not only couples deforestation to climatic changes, but also makes an important reference to a world-wide trade in crabon credits and bio-rights.
Please click the icon to read the article (24 kB).

This article has been placed on the website with permission from Wageningen Update and the authour.

"Ontbossing is vooral een armoedeprobleem" - December 2005
An interview with Herbert Diemont published in Alterra BoomBlad, the bimonthly magazine for Alterra.
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Please click the icon to read the article (36 kB).

This article has been placed on the website with permission from Alterra and Boomblad.

Chronology

So far the following activities have taken place:

• REP Kick-off meeting - July 4, 2004
  
  
• A study has been completed which documents the viability of Bio-rights and how it could be improved.
  
  
• progress reports for Mali and Kalimantan
  
  
• The Carbon Timebomb, April 2006
  
  
• Interview with Herbert Diemont regarding bio-rights, December 2005
  
  
• REP Kick-off meeting, July 2004
  
  
• Bio-rights study completed, spring 2003
  
  
• www.bio-rights.org goes online, October 2003
  
  
• Bio-rights presented at UNEP FI 2003 Global Roundtable, October 2003
  
  
• Forum of Central Kalimantan II, August 2003
  
  
• Identification mission to Indonesia, August 2003
  
  
• Identification mission to Costa Rica, April 2003
  
  
• Identification mission to Mali, February 2003
  
  
• Meeting with DGIS (the Dutch Directorate General of International Cooperation), 2003
  
  
• Ramsar Convention, November 2002
  -Bio-rights presented at the convention.
  
  
• Forum of Central Kalimantan, September 2002
  -forum hosted by the British Ambassador in Jakarta for stakeholders in Central Klimantan, including the governor.
  
  
• Jakarta, January 2002
  -CIMTROP project document to assess participation of local people (with crash funding from Alterra).
  
  
• Palanka R., November 2001
  -STRAPEAT team visit the governor of Kalteng.
  -Kalteng province declares its participation.