The Chinchaycocha lake in the carbon credit market
Abstract
Climate change as a global phenomenon concerns worldwide and is manifested in everyday life through various climatic disorders. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in its Fourth Assessment Report presented in 2007, and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have established that since 2001 the global average temperature on the planet recorded the highest level of increase in our history. At this rate, and also the difficulty of finding a solution even in the medium term, it appears that 2013 won’t be the exception.
The weather change causes are attributed to natural factors but also anthropogenic; there is already a consensus on the greenhouse effect gases (GHG) influence, especially carbon dioxide (CO2) in this accelerated process of global warming.
This climate crisis as a way to be faced, is now forcing countries to promote projects which reduce GHG emissions and permit carbon storage. One of the international established mechanisms to achieve this goal are the carbon credits initiative disposed by the Kyoto Protocol, a legally binding agreement signed in 1997 and in force since 2005. It expired last year, but the historical Doha Conference, Qatar, decided last December to extend the validity of the treaty until 2020.
The protocol, in its first phase, demands the main powers during the period 2008-2012 to reduce gas emissions by 5,2 % below the level of 1990. The interesting thing is that such powerful companies to enforce this obligation, can do it anywhere or buy carbon credits from countries that exceed the required goals. The emission of these credits is, after all, a decontamination initiative, which allows industrialized countries to continue their polluting practices, while investing capital in underdeveloped countries to reduce GHG emissions on their behalf.
This initiative has created a market for Certified Emission Reductions (CER) buying and selling. Our country has enormous potential to capture these resources. It is, then, an opportunity to enter this market and generate significant resources that can be invested in more research, development and innovation (R + D + i) in the same adaptation processes and climate change mitigation.
Peru has 13 recognized and protected wetlands by the Ramsar convention, one of these wetlands is the Chinchaycocha lake - the second largest in the country - that must be seen today as an ecosystem that provides various environmental services and conservation, therefore it must be in the carbon credits market scope. It’s the reason and with the purpose of determining its carbon storage capacity potential, the Universidad Continental with the National Service of Protected Natural Areas by the Government (SERNANP)’s support have developed between 2011 and 2012 the important research project "Carbon storing in predominant flora species in the Chinchaycocha lake" so in the future achieve a proper assessment of this wetland nowadays when responsible conservation is the key for adaptation and climate change mitigation.
The “Apuntes de Ciencia & Sociedad” scientific journal in this number expresses special interest in making available to the scientific and academic community the results of that research project as a demonstration of our commitment to science and life.
