Carbon credits ‘key’ to winning climate fight

The Royal Forest Department (RFD) says the nation’s carbon trading scheme will be an important tool in the fight to preserve Thailand’s forests, noting the community that took part in its pilot programme in 2015 has generated over seven million baht in carbon credits from the scheme to date.
Speaking at an event called Carbon Credit Trade for Sustainable Forest Management yesterday, RFD director-general, Surachai Achalaboon, said carbon trading schemes should be an integral part of environmental preservation efforts, because they confer tangible benefits on local communities for protecting forests.
He pointed to the success of Ban Khong Ta Bang in Phetchaburi’s Tha Yang district, which joined the Thailand Voluntary Emission Reduction Programme (T-Ver) in 2015.
With help from the RFD, Kasetsart University, the Mae Fah Luang Foundation, and the Ratch Group, an independent power producer, the community, which is home to 1,397 rai of forest land, took an active role in protecting the environment, by planting more trees and rehabilitating old-growth forests, he said. Their efforts over the past seven years has generated 5,259 tonnes of carbon credit for the community, Mr Surachai said.
Three private companies, including PTT Exploration and Production, have expressed interest in buying carbon credits from Ban Khong Ta Bang, which is valued at 7.09 million baht in total.
The proceeds from the sale will go towards the Ban Khong Ta Bang Community Forest fund.
Mr Surachai said the market for carbon credit trade is expected to grow further, due to higher demand from the industrial sector.
“This is a win-win situation. Locals get direct income from their forest while helping the country achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 and net zero emissions by 2065,” he said.
According to Mr Surachai, 121 community forests countrywide have now been registered under the T-Ver programme and 276 more communities are in the process of applying.