Validation Assessment Report for: Producción, Industrialización, Comercialización y Asesoría de Hule Natural, Sociedad Anónima (PICA) in Guatemala pot

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No. C-56 May2010 Page 1 Validation Assessment Report for: Producción, Industrialización, Comercialización y Asesoría de Hule Natural, Sociedad Anónima (PICA) in Guatemala Validated by: 65 Millet St. Suite 201 Richmond, VT 05477 USA Tel: 802-434-5491 Fax: 802-434-3116 www.rainforest-alliance.org Carbon Forestry Validation Audit Managed by: Mesoamerica Regional Office Rainforest Alliance/ SmartWood Program 8a Avenida 15-62, Zone 10 Guatemala, Guatemala Tel: (502) 2383 - 5757 Fax: (502) 2383 - 5788 Contact person: Adolfo Lemus Email: alemus@ra.org Date Final Report Issued: 26 October 2010 Date Draft Final Report Issued: 22 September 2010 Date Draft Report Issued: 30 June 2010 Audit Dates: 20 to 22 April, 2010 Lead Auditor: William Arreaga Second Audit Team Member: Jared Nunery Senior Internal Reviewer: Adam Gibbon Audit Standard: VCS, 2007.1, Nov 2008 Voluntary Carbon Standard Program Update 21 January 2010 VCS, Tool for AFOLY Methodological Issues, Nov 2008 VCS, Guidance for AFOLU Projects, Nov 2008 VCS, Program Guidelines, Nov 2008 VCS, Tool for AFOLU Non-Permanence Risk Analysis and Buffer Determination, Nov 2008 VCS Program updates. Validation Code(s): RA-VAL-VCS-013806 Validation Statement Issued: 26 October 2010 Project Latitude/Longitude: Lat: 14.62366 Long: -90.51681 Project Proponent Contact: Ing. Glenda Lee, Coordinadora de Econegocios Project Proponent Address: 7a. Avenida 7-33 Zona 9 Guatemala City, Guatemala Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 2 Voluntary Carbon Standard 2007 Validation Report: Name of Verification company: Date of the issue: Rainforest Alliance 26 October 2010 Report Title: Approved by: PICA_VCS valid 10 Adam Gibbon Client: Project Title: Producción, Industrialización, Comercialización y Asesoría de Hule Natural, Sociedad Anónima (PICA) Promoting Sustainable Development through Natural Rubber Tree Plantations in Guatemala Summary: This project is designed to promote sustainable development through the establishment of natural rubber tree plantations in two distinct regions of Guatemala. The proposed project activities involve certifying the proposed project areas under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) forest management certification, in addition to the validation of the project as an Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR) project with the VCS. The project involves the reforestation of 2,366.16 hectares of degraded pastureland, with a variety of clones of Hevea brasiliensis. The Project Design Document (PDD) and supporting documents were designed to conform to the VCS 2007.1 standard, specifically as an ARR project under the AFOLU project types. The project employed an approved CDM Afforestation and Reforestation methodology, AR-ACM0001 v.3. This project aims to be the first FSC certified rubber tree plantation in Guatemala. The project intends to diversify investment opportunities for businesses in Guatemala interested in investing in sustainable rubber production. The project area includes 7 different farms, divided geographically in both the north (3 farms) and the south (4 farms) of Guatemala. Traditional rubber production currently exists in the south of Guatemala; however, this practice is less common in the north, where soils are less productive, and a longer rainy season presents additional challenges with increased impacts of a fungus that affects rubber plantations. The project intends to sequester a total of 1,739,855 t CO 2 e over the course of the 42 year crediting period. The project includes a financial analysis that demonstrates the impact of the sale of carbon credits associated with project activities, resulting in an increased rate of return for investors above a minimum investment threshold that decreases the financial risk of the project making investments in project activities possible. The project asserts that without the sale of carbon credits, it would not be able to meet the minimum investment return threshold. Although rubber production is common in the south with traditional rubber production, this project intends to increase the sustainability of rubber production through certification of FSC, which is not common throughout the entirety of Guatemala. The rubber plantations involved in project activities will be managed for rubber production for a minimum of 36 years (note the planted areas will be staggered, hence the 42 year crediting period), according to interviews with Project Proponents, plantation managers, and management plans. Following this rotation period, the rubber trees will be harvested, and the plantations will be re-planted as rubber tree plantations. The validation of project activities was requested of Rainforest Alliance by PICA. The audit of the PDD, supporting documentation, field visit, and interviews has provided Rainforest Alliance with the evidence to determine successful fulfillment to the VCS 2007.1 standard with reasonable assurance. Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 3 Work carried out by: Number of pages: Rainforest Alliance 56 Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 4 Table of Contents 1 Introduction 6 1.1 Objective 6 1.2 Scope and Criteria 6 1.3 VCS project Description 6 1.4 Level of assurance 7 2 Methodology 8 2.1 Description of the Audit Process 8 2.2 Audit team 9 2.3 Stakeholder Consultation Process 9 2.4 Review of Documents 9 2.5 Follow-up Interviews 13 2.6 Resolution of any material discrepancy 13 3 Validation Overview 14 3.1 Validation summary 14 3.2 Correct Action Requests 15 3.3 Observations 24 3.4 Actions taken by the Project Proponent Prior to Report Finalisation 25 4 Validation Findings 27 4.1 Project Design 27 4.1.1 Project title, Purposes and Objectives 27 4.1.2 Type of GHG project 27 4.1.3 Project Location 27 4.1.4 Technology used 28 4.1.5 Project duration, crediting time and project start date 28 4.1.6 Ownership/Proof of Title/Right of Use 29 4.1.7 Double counting and whether the project participated in another emission trading programme 30 4.1.8 Project applicability to the VCS for projects rejected under other GHG programme (if applicable) 30 4.1.9 Whether the project is eligible under the VCS 30 4.1.10 Chronological plan for project initiation and monitoring 31 4.1.11 Roles and responsibilities 31 4.1.12 Observation of local laws and regulations 32 4.2 Baseline 32 4.2.1 Conditions prior to project initiation 32 4.2.2 Approval of the baseline methodology 33 4.2.3 Application of methodology deviations or revisions (if applicable) 33 4.2.4 Conformance with methodology applicability conditions 34 4.2.5 Correct application and justification of selected baseline methodology 35 4.2.6 Appropriate setting of baseline scenario 36 4.2.7 Assessment and demonstration of additionality should be summarised in this section. 37 4.3 Monitoring Plan 38 4.3.1 Approval of the monitoring methodology 38 4.3.2 Correct application and justification of selected monitoring methodology 38 4.3.3 Conformance with VCS specific criterion relating to monitoring (VCS 2007.1 section 5.11 and Tool for AFOLU Methodological Issues Step 6) 39 4.3.4 Whether the monitoring plan provides detailed information related to the collection and archiving of all relevant data 40 4.4 Calculation of GHG Emissions 40 4.4.1 The appropriateness of the source, sink and reservoir (pools) 40 Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 5 4.4.2 The correctness and transparency of formulas and factors used 41 4.4.3 Calculation of emissions in the baseline scenario (ex-ante estimate) 44 4.4.4 Calculation of emissions from project activities (ex-ante estimate) 45 4.4.5 Calculation of emissions reductions or avoided emissions due to the project (ex-ante estimate) 45 4.4.6 Calculation of emissions from leakage (ex-ante estimate) 46 4.4.7 Calculation of net VCUs to be issued (ex-ante estimate) 47 4.4.8 The assumptions made for estimating GHG emission reductions 47 4.4.9 Uncertainties 48 4.5 Environmental Impact 48 4.5.1 Requirements for and approval of an Environmental Impact Assessment (if applicable) 48 4.5.2 Comments by stakeholders 48 4.5.3 Negative environmental and socio-economic impacts of the project 49 5 VCS Risk Assessment 51 5.1 Risk factors applicable to all project types 51 5.2 Risk factors applicable to ARR projects 52 5.2.1 Default buffer withholding percentages for ARR projects 55 6 Validation Conclusion 57 Appendix A: Company Details 58 6.1 Contacts 58 6.2 On-line Certification Contact 58 Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 6 1 Introduction 1.1 Objective The purpose of this report is to document the conformance of the Promoting Sustainable Development through Natural Rubber Tree Plantations in Guatemala project with the requirements of the Voluntary Carbon Standard (VCS) validation standards. The project was developed by Producción, Industrialización, Comercialización y Asesoría de Hule Natural, Sociedad Anónima (PICA) with assistance from Winrock International, hereafter referred to as “Project Proponent”. The report presents the findings of qualified Rainforest Alliance auditors who have evaluated the Project Proponent’s systems and performance against the applicable standard(s). Section 6 below provides the audit conclusions. The Rainforest Alliance’s SmartWood program was founded in 1989 to certify forestry practices conforming to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards and now focuses on providing a variety of forest auditing services. In addition to being an ANSI ISO 14065:2007 accredited verifier and validator with VCS, Rainforest Alliance SmartWood program is also a member of the Climate, Community, and Biodiversity Alliance (CCBA) standards, and an approved verification body with a number of other forest carbon project standards. For a complete list of the services provided by Rainforest Alliance see http://www.rainforest- alliance.org/climate.cfm?id=international_standards. Dispute resolution: If Rainforest Alliance clients encounter organizations or individuals having concerns or comments about Rainforest Alliance / SmartWood and our services, these parties are strongly encouraged to contact the SmartWood program headquarters directly. 1.2 Scope and Criteria Scope: The scope of the validation audit is to assess the conformance of the Promoting Sustainable Development through Natural Rubber Tree Plantations in Guatemala Reforestation project in Guatemala against the VCS 2007.1 standard. The objectives of this audit included an assessment of the project’s conformance with the VCS 2007.1 requirements and any additional requirements of VCS AFOLU projects. In addition, the audit assessed the project with respect to the baseline scenarios presented in the project design document. The project covers an area of 2,366.16 ha. The land is privately owned. The forest type will be reforested to a rubber tree plantation with a variety of clones of Hevea brasiliensis. The project has a lifetime of 42 years, and estimates it will lead to an average carbon stock increase of 1,739,855 tCO 2 e over the project crediting period. The audit will assess the GHG assertions and baseline estimates made by the project against agreed validation criteria of the VCS. Standard criteria: Criteria from the following documents were used to assess this project: Voluntary Carbon Standard, 2007.1, Nov 2008 Voluntary Carbon Standard, Tool for AFOLU Methodological Issues, Nov 2008 Voluntary Carbon Standard, Guidance for Agriculture, Forestry and Other Land Use Projects, Nov 2008 Voluntary Carbon Standard, Program Guidelines, Nov 2008 Voluntary Carbon Standard, Tool for AFOLU Non-Permanence Risk Analysis and Buffer Determination, Nov 2008 Applicable Voluntary Carbon Standard Program Updates Applicable VCS Association Policy Announcements Approved VCS methodology used for project activities Materiality: All stocks and emissions equal to or greater than 5% of the total GHG assertion as defined in section 7.3.1 of the VCS 2007.1 standard. 1.3 VCS project Description The carbon project developed by the Project Proponent, intends to find new ways to promote sustainable development through natural rubber tree plantations in Guatemala. This project aims to become the first FSC certified rubber tree plantation in Guatemala. The project intends to diversify investment opportunities for businesses in Guatemala interested in investing in sustainable rubber production. The project area includes 7 different farms, divided geographically in both the north (3 farms) and the south (4 farms) of Guatemala. Traditional rubber production currently exists in the south of Guatemala; however, this practice is less common in the north, where soils are less productive, and a longer rainy season presents additional challenges with increased impacts of a fungus that affects rubber plantations. The project intends to sequester a total of 1,739,855 tCO 2 e over the course of the 42 year VCS crediting period. The project includes a financial analysis that demonstrates the impact of Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 7 the sale of carbon credits associated with project activities, resulting in an increased rate of return for investors above a minimum investment threshold that decreases the financial risk of the project making investments in project activities possible. Without the sale of carbon credits, the project would not be able to meet the minimum investment return threshold. Although rubber production is common in the south with traditional rubber production, this project intends to increase the sustainability of rubber production through certification of FSC, which is not common throughout the entirety of Guatemala. According to interviews with Project Proponents, plantation managers, and review of management plans the rubber plantations involved in project activities will be managed for a minimum one complete rotation with the commitment to replant rubber tree plantations following the culmination of the 36 year rotation period. Following this rotation period, the rubber trees will be harvested, and the plantations will be re-planted as rubber tree plantations. 1.4 Level of assurance The GHG assertion will be validated to a reasonable level of assurance. Based on the audit findings, a positive validation statement reasonably assures that the project GHG assertion is materially correct and is a fair representation of the GHG data and information. Additionally, the GHG assertion is prepared in accordance with the VCS 2007.1 standard. Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 8 2 Methodology 2.1 Description of the Audit Process The audit was conducted in a two step process. The first step consisted of a pre-validation assessment, conducted through a remote desk audit of the Project Design Document (Doc #1), and all corresponding annexes (Docs #2 – 75). The purpose of the pre-validation assessment is to identify any major gaps within the project design document, and to determine if the project is ready for a field visit. As part of the pre-validation audit, 19 gaps were identified, and the Project Proponent was notified of these findings on April 7 th , 2010 with the submission of the pre-validation report. This process offers the Project Proponent a minimum of 3 weeks to address any gaps identified in the pre-validation assessment prior to the arrival of auditors for the field audit. The field audit for the validation of the Promoting Sustainable Development through Natural Rubber Tree Plantations in Guatemala project corresponded with the first assessment of project area for FSC certification. In total, 9 farms were included in the FSC and VCS scopes; however, not all farms were included in the scope of both audits. Below is a table describing the farms included in each of the audit scopes, as well as those farms that were visited during the field audit. Farm Owner Farm Name Included in the Scope of the FSC Certification Included in the Scope of the VCS Validation Visited During Field Audit Agropalmeras S.A. Palmeras Yes Yes Yes Agropalmeras S.A. Río Frío Yes Yes Yes Ingenio Magdalena, S.A. El Horizonte No Yes No Ingenio Magdalena, S.A. Asunción No Yes No Ingenio Magdalena, S.A. Los Patos No Yes Yes Inversiones Agrícolas Palafox, S.A. Bello Horizonte Yes Yes Yes Sistemas Operativos del Norte, S.A. (SONORSA) Concepción No Yes No Inversiones Agrícolas Las Animas S.A. Animas Yes No Yes Inversiones Agrícolas Palafox, S.A Palafox Yes No Yes The field audit consisted of a total of 8 days, visiting both of the project strata (3 days field visit in the south, 3 days field visit in the north, and 2 days in the Guatemalan City office of PICA). In total, 4 of the 7 farms included within the scope of the VCS validation were visited. In addition to those farms visited as part of the VCS validation, 2 farms were visited as part of the FSC certification. Stakeholder interviews were conducted at all farms visited, including interviews of farm managers, farm workers, and members of the neighbouring farm community. As part of the field audit, the following project areas were visited: Location/Facility Date(s) Length of Audit Auditor(s) Palafox Farm 04 May 2010 6 hours William Arreaga and Jared Nunery Environmental Ministry of Guatemala, Suchitepequez 04 May 2010 1 hour William Arreaga and Jared Nunery Labour Ministry, Suchitepequez Social Security Institute, Suchitepequez Municipal Forestry Office, Suchitepequez National Institute of Forests (INAB), Suchitepequez 04 May 2010 5 hours William Arreaga Animas Farm 05 May 2010 5 hours William Arreaga and Jared Nunery Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 9 Los Patos Farm 05 May 2010 5 hours William Arreaga and Jared Nunery Palmeras Farm 06 May 2010 10 hours William Arreaga and Jared Nunery Grupo Agroindustrial Occidente Headquarters, Guatemala City 07 May 2010 6 hours William Arreaga and Jared Nunery Labour Ministry; Social Security Institute; National of Protected Areas Council (CONAP), Izabal 10 May 2010 1 day William Arreaga Bello Horizonte Farm 11 May 2010 4 hours William Arreaga Río Frío Farm 11 May 2010 3 hours William Arreaga 2.2 Audit team Auditor(s) Qualifications William Arreaga, Rainforest Alliance, Forester, SmartWood Central America Region Contact info: warreaga@ra.org Phone: (502) 2383-5757 William is a Rainforest Alliance Lead Carbon Auditor. Guatemalan; Forestry Specialist, Central American SmartWood Office. Forestry degree from the Escuela Nacional Central de Agricultura, and an engineering degree from USAC; in 2002; he received an M.Sc. in Tropical Forest Management and Biodiversity Conservation from CATIE (Costa Rica). His work has been focused in plantations and natural forests managed in Central America. He also has experience in carbon storage and carbon flows in natural forests and plantations. In 2007, he spent two months at Winrock International as a fellow. Jared Nunery, Rainforest Alliance, SmartWood Program Carbon Technical Specialist Contact info: jnunery@ra.org Phone: +1(802) 434-8732 Jared has led the technical review of multiple validation assessments for the VCS. In addition he has participated in two Improved Forest Management methodological assessments for the VCS. Before joining the Rainforest Alliance, Jared worked as a member of the Carbon Dynamics Lab at the University of Vermont, where he conducted research on the effects of forest management on carbon sequestration. Jared has published multiple scientific articles on forest carbon dynamics as well as general forest ecological processes. Jared has a B.S. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Vermont and earned his M.Sc. in Forestry from the University of Vermont. Jared has extensive experience in forest stand dynamics, forest carbon dynamics, forest mensuration, GHG quantification, forest growth and yield modeling, and wildlife habitat conservation. In addition, Jared is a certified lead auditor with the Climate Action Reserve for Forest and Urban Forest projects. 2.3 Stakeholder Consultation Process During the field audit, local stakeholders affected by proposed project activities were interviewed by the audit team. Interviews included both in person conversations in the field, visits to local stakeholder offices, visits to community school, and telephone interviews with those stakeholders which were unavailable or inaccessible during the field audit. The audit team interviewed a diverse group of stakeholders (see table in section 2.5 below). All interviews were conducted without the presence of the Project Proponent team members immediately involved in project activities, in order to avoid potential biases. Additionally, stakeholder consultations were conducted by the Project Proponent (see section 4.5.2 below). These meetings were documented by video and photographs which were reviewed by the audit team during the field audit. 2.4 Review of Documents Documents were reviewed at three times during the audit process. The first review occurred during the time period of March 31 st to April 2 nd 2010. The first review consisted of a preliminary desk audit of the project documents (reference number 1 thru 75 below), and assessment against the VCS 2007.1 Standard. All documents were then reviewed a second time during the field audit against the VCS 2007.1 Standard, as well as to ensure consistency between project documents (e.g. ensuring the PDD followed the guidance of the selected CDM methodology). Doc. No. C-56 May2010 Page 10 The second review consisted of a more thorough audit where references within the PDD were cross-referenced to ensure accuracy. When greater than 20 references were cited in one section of the PDD (see for example Doc #37 – 42 where species specific wood densities from Chave et al. 2005 (Doc #43)) a sample of 10% of the total references were checked. If errors were found in the initial sample, a complete census of all references was conducted. In total 89 documents were reviewed during the audit process. The third review consisted of a review of revised documents that were originally submitted during the field validation audit. Included in the third audit was also a review of additional evidence to support the use of the Morales allometric equations (see Docs 110 – 120). The following documents were viewed in the audit process: Ref Title, Author(s), Version, Date Electronic Filename 1 PICA VCS PDD 03/09/2010 PICA_-_VCS_PD_03_09_10 2 Afforestation and reforestation on degraded land AR-ACM0001 v04 3 Combined tool to identify the baseline scenario and demonstrate additionality in A/R CDM project activities ar-am-tool-02-v1 4 Memoria Tecnica Memoria Tecnica 5 Proceso definición Bosque MDL Proceso definición Bosque MDL 6 DATA, SOIL DEGRADATION DATA, SOIL DEGRADATION 7 Plan de Manejo Bello-Horizonte Plan de Manejo Bello-Horizonte 8 Plan de Manejo Rio Frio Plan de Manejo Rio Frio 9 Plan_de_Manejo_Palmeras_V3 Plan_de_Manejo_Palmeras_V3 10 EIA Asuncion EIA Asuncion 11 EIA Bello Horizonte EIA Bello Horizonte 12 EIA El Horizonte EIA El Horizonte 13 EIA Los Patos EIA Los Patos 14 EIA Palmeras EIA Palmeras 15 EIA Rio Frio EIA Rio Frio 16 Entregas MARN magdalena entregas MARN magdalena 17 Resolucion MARN plan de gestion resolucion MARN plan de gestion 18 Proyectos Animas Palmeras Palafox ProyectosAnimasPalmerasPalafox[1] 19 CONCEPCION cattle sale receipts and argument CONCEPCION cattle sale receipts and argument 20 PICA - Leakage Analysis PICA - Leakage Analysis 21 Los Patos - Transfer of Grazing Animals Los Patos - Transfer of Grazing Animals 22 Palmeras - Cattle Sale Receipts Palmeras - Cattle Sale Receipts 23 Ganaderia Las Vegas, SA Ganaderia Las Vegas, SA 24 PICA - Leakage Analysis - Tables PICA - Leakage Analysis - Tables 25 List of participants at public meetings held at Lost Patos and Asunción LISTOF~1 26 CAMBIOS BELLO HORIZONTE CAMBIOS_BELLOHORIZONTE_english 27 Eligibility Analysis - Methods Eligibility Analysis - Methods 28 Remote Sensing Data utilized by Geotecnologica GIS_Data 29 Asuncion Maps (5) Asuncion Maps 30 Bello Horizonte Maps (5) Bello Horizonte Maps 31 Concepcion Maps (4) Concepcion Maps 32 El Horizonte Maps (5) El Horizonte Maps 33 Los Patos Maps (5) Los Patos Maps 34 Palmeras Maps (5) Palmeras Maps 35 Rio Frio Maps (6) Rio Frio Maps [...]... close identified CARs Doc No C-56 May2010 Page 12 2.5 Follow-up Interviews Major stakeholders identified by the audit team, in addition to those identified in the PDD were interviewed during the field audits Interviews were conducted in person by the audit team During the audit, the auditors divided into two teams in order to increase sampling intensity One team, consisting of a Guatemalan forest engineer... following is a list of the people interviewed as part of the audit: Audit Date Name Title 4May10 4May10 4May10 4May10 Francisco Manuel Andicoechea Alegria Luis Alejandro Mejia Caniz Glenda Lee Jose Luis Garcia Ayala 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 5May10 6May10 6May10 6May10 Lázaro Cruz Agusto De La Cruz Rosales Fernando Hernández Alvaro Mérida Waldemar... Sensitivity Analysis Statement of Intent PICA 2007 Summary - Statements of Intent GUATEMALA CATTLE HISTORY Mapa de cobertura vegetal y uso de la tierra Prospects for Change in International Investment Patterns in Performance Benchmarks 2007 Hastings Hancock International Timberland Fund Annual Report Forest and Paper Products Investment FSC Principles and Criteria Guatemala- 2005-INFORME-INCENDIOS Guatemala. .. SequestrationPDDRubberTotal Investment Analysis Planting Records and Projections Sensitivity Analysis Statement of Intent PICA 2007 Summary - Statements of Intent GUATEMALA CATTLE HISTORY Mapa de cobertura vegetal y uso de la tierra Prospects for Change in International Investment Patterns in Performance Benchmarks 2007 Hastings Hancock International Timberland Fund Annual Report Forest and Paper Products Investment FSC Principles... PICA shall define the project crediting period following the criteria mandated by the VCS Timeline for 30 Days conformance: Evidence to close CAR: PICA has revised the PDD and some of the supporting annexes to reflect a newly defined 42 year crediting period See detailed findings in section 4.1.5 regarding the changes to the project crediting period CAR Status: Follow-up Actions: As the crediting period... This evidence was found by the audit team to be Doc No C-56 May2010 Page 25 sufficient to close all open CARs A listing of the revised documents and additional evidence is included in section 2.4 of this report Additionally, findings from the audit team assessment of additional documentation and revised documents are included in section 4 of this report Doc No C-56 May2010 Page 26 4 Validation Findings... methodology applicability conditions (added by Rainforest Alliance to aid reporting clarity) Appropriate setting of baseline scenario, and Assessment and demonstration of additionality should be summarised in this section 4.2.1 Conditions prior to project initiation Findings from Audit on 30 JUNE 2010 Step 3 of section 2.4 describes the pre-existing conditions and the baseline strata The baseline conditions... Findings from Audit on 30 JUNE 2010 The carbon project title: Promoting Sustainable Development through Natural Rubber Tree Plantations in Guatemala, accurately reflects the proposed project The additionality argument of this carbon project is founded in the financial analyses based on the Project Proponent’s dedication to promoting sustainable development of rubber plantations in Guatemala This dedication... May 6th, Geotecnologica staff responsible for the remote sensing analysis demonstrated the GIS methodology used to perform the eligibility analysis as well as the techniques used to create project area maps This was demonstrated with the original GIS files/layers used to develop maps included in the annexed documents Finally, the GIS maps were confirmed during field visits visually, as well as using... demonstrated the methodology and techniques used to conduct the land use eligibility assessment (see 4.1.3 above) The auditors noted that the VCS requires only a 10 year eligibility assessment, and expanded to a 20 year assessment of land use practices may be too great, as it may not capture potential reforestation and subsequent clearing (e.g short rotation forestry) within the 20 year eligibility . C-56 May2010 Page 1 Validation Assessment Report for: Producción, Industrialización, Comercialización y Asesoría de Hule Natural,. Title: Producción, Industrialización, Comercialización y Asesoría de Hule Natural, Sociedad Anónima (PICA) Promoting Sustainable Development through