3. Establishing agroforestry and bioenergy systems by ‘joint implementation’
This headline is meant to be ambiguous: First of all it shall be repeated, that land-use planning and energy policy should be designed in close cooperation. But secondly the headline refers to the actual political efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. At the Third Conference of the Parties (COP III) held in Kyoto, Japan, December 1–10, 1997, a protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCC) was signed, which made ‘joint implementation’ (JI) a generally accepted political instrument. Thismechanism allows companies from the industrialised nations to generate emission credits by investing in projects to reduce, avoid or sequester greenhouse gas emissions in developing countries in a cost-effective manner. In a pilot phase, internationally referred to as ‘Activities Implemented Jointly’ (AIJ) several countries already began projects, some of which dealt with forestry, agroforestry, and biomass energy. Australia, e.g., just in November 1997, created its ‘International Greenhouse Partnerships’ (IGP) Program in order to find ways to use JI for a cost-effective fullfilment of its greenhouse gas emission target. Another objective of the program is to enhance Australian trade and investment links in environmental technology and services areas in the energy and other relevant sectors, mainly focused in the Asia–Pacific region. Host countries will benefit by gaining access to technology that will build the infrastructure required to meet their development needs while also benefiting the global climate. Accordingly, a large big German company decided in spring 1998 to invest DM 30 Mio in a forestry CO2 mitigation project. This demonstrates well that after Kyoto there are much better chances to receive funds for agroforestry and fuelwood projects by the mechanism of JI. It has been demonstrated by scientific calculations (see Table 2; Swisher, 1991) and practical experiences from many pilot projects since 1989, there is a great potential for greenhouse gas mitigation by agroforestry. The increasing use of biomass and its conversion efficiency for producing heat, electricity, and liquid fuels can become a significant factor in the global management of atmospheric CO2 over the next century (Sampson et al., 1993). Consequently these opportunities should be used intensively in the interest of a sustainable development, especially in tropical countries.