The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists yesterday warned The Bahamas must guard against the prospect of being “short changed” over the sums it could potentially earn from trading carbon credits.

Rashema Ingraham, executive director of Waterkeepers Bahamas, told Tribune Business that she believed an initial framework for valuing this nation’s carbon credits and associated natural resources could be developed within 12 months given the research already underway.

But she added that it was vital for the Government to consult with as many stakeholders as possible in this effort, including its own ministries, environmental activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and even the likes of the Defence Force, to ensure that this potential multi-million dollar resource be valued accurately.

Suggesting that estimates given to-date likely under-value the potential for The Bahamas, Ms Ingraham told this newspaper: “I’ve seen where some people have been giving numbers as to how much it can be valued at. I think it can be valued at more than what is being quoted in public.

“I hope there’s proper engagement with the NGOs doing the work and trying to quantify the carbon being contained in the mangroves, pine forests and coral reef so that when the Government presents on the international stage we’re not short-changed.

“I’m very concerned about that, so that’s why it’s important for them to speak to all stakeholders so that they can make it happen. There’s a very large range of stakeholders that need to be involved in that.”

Asked how long it could take to put in the necessary framework for regulating and valuing carbon credits, Ms Ingraham added: “I think it could happen in less than 12 months; at least the initial work with carbon credits and how to value it.

“We’ve been looking at ways to diversify our economy where our natural resources play a vital role in helping to get to that point. We have so many acres of mangroves and pine forests and sea grass, which are great sequesters of carbon, and we will be able to use the credits to build a new economy.

“There’s been a lot of work happening, especially in Abaco and Grand Bahama. There’s been a lot of NGOs doing research work. The mangroves will be the biggest asset in terms of carbon credits. It’s pulling carbon from the air and trapping it in the nutrients in the soil. Converting it to credits is just looking at how much carbon is contained in the roots, in the soil.”

Ms Ingraham, reiterating that The Bahamas must present an “accurate formula” for calculating carbon credits so that it not “short changed”, spoke after a Bahamas-based financial executive told Bloomberg that this nation could earn $375m per year from carbon credits.

Barbara Ann Bernard, chief executive of Wincrest Capital, said this nation could generate $308m worth of carbon credits from restoring 7,011 hectares of mangroves. And she estimated that the existing 97,000 acres, and 5.4m hectares of sea grass, are worth $375m per year.

Carbon credits are likely to be among the “new tax measures” being considered by the Government, and Ms Bernard said that to realise this potential The Bahamas will have to get its sequestration ratified by Gold Standard and registered with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change before these instruments can be sold.

Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, the Bahamas Reef, Environment and Educational Foundation (BREEF) executive director, yesterday told Tribune Business: “Marine ecosystems, especially seagrass beds and mangroves, are important carbon sinks. There is great potential to benefit from carbon credits from protecting and restoring these habitats.

“In addition, we have a tremendous opportunity to build climate resilience in our own islands by protecting these ecosystems that protect us from rising seas and storms associated with climate change.

“However, it is extremely worrying to be talking on the one hand about the economic benefits of carbon credits and protecting these valuable ecosystems while on the other hand contemplating projects that would result in damage to these ecosystems and also jeopardise the livelihoods of fishermen and increase the vulnerability of low-lying settlements.”