TIST
October 2006
Chezhumai
The wounds we have inflicted on the Earth can be healed ... But if it is to be done, it must be done now. Otherwise, it may never be done at all." - Plant Trees and save the Earth.
WISH YOU ALL A HAPPY AYUDHA POOJA & DEEPAVALI
Points to be noted by every Small Group to get continuous and on time voucher payment.
1. No Small Group should have more than 40% of one kind of species. Every Small Group should have minimum 3 different kind of tree species in the ratio of 30:30:40.
2. Minimum 2 members of every Small Group should attend to the Node meetings.
3. SGMR should be submitted regularly.
4. Cooperate with the quantifier during quantification.
The above four points should be adhered by every Small Group to get continuous and on time voucher payment.
C P Organic Small Group of Mel Kodungalur
This Small Group kept their promise and started multiple species of seedlings. This Small Group started planting casuarinas trees immediately after joining TIST project. Their groves are at Sathanoor Village, which falls under Mel Kodungalur Node Center. They received Rs.10,137 as their first voucher payment during June 2006. In responseto the TIST system, i.e., “every small group should plant multiple and long standing species”, they immediately started a nursery in the soil bed with 3-4 types of tree species like, tamarind, silk cotton and magudam. They also have more than 10 kgs of seeds of different tree species, which they would use to prepare seedlings very soon. In the recent quantification on 11th July they have 25,399 casuarinas trees in their three groves for which they have received an amount of Rs.9,397/- during September 2006.
The members of this Small Group have started vermiculture using earthworms, organic waste materials like, crop residue, straws, leaves, animal waste, household waste materials etc. They would be using this vermicompost material for their farming purpose.
Benefits of Vermiculture
The earthworms play a vital role in the entire process; in ploughing and fertilizing the soil and providing all the needed nutrition to the plants. The earthworms have contributed to improve the soil structure, soil fertility, promote soil aggregation, encourage favorable soil reactions and enrich the nutrient status of the soil and in the process promoting the plant growth and improving the quality of the produce. Earthworms churn the soil and make it porous. They improve the soil by helping it achieve proper air, water and solids in the required ratio for maximum plant growth. Earthworms improve the water infiltration rate. Its maze of tunnels increases the soil's ability to absorb water. Earthworms bring up minerals and make plant nutrients more available. Earthworms also neutralize soil pH. Analysis of earthworm castings or manure shows that the soil in the castings has neutral pH (7) regardless of whether the existing soil is above or below pH (7). Earthworms compost plant residues. Earthworms stimulate microbial population. Free-living nitrogen fixing bacteria are more numerous around the sides of the earthworm's burrows.
Wise activity and hard work is rewarding
There are few Small Groups who start their seedlings in the soil bed and then in few months time they transplant those seedlings in a different land. The members do not see whether the seedlings are strong enough for transplanting or is it the right season for transplanting. Just for the sake of voucher they follow a quick and shortcutmethod, which will result in casualty of trees. There are few Small Groups, like Balaji Small Group of Mel Kodungalure, who take care of their seedlings well and the transplanting is done carefully. Last year, Balaji Small Group started a nursery with few hundred silk cotton seedlings. All the seedlings were kept in good polythene bags. These seedlings were kept in the polythene bags till they reached 5-6 feet in height. They say when the seedlings are transplanted after reaching 5-6 feet in height, they can withstand the ground heat and there will not be any casualty. When the members started a sugarcane crop, these 5-6 feet height silk cotton trees were transplanted in between the sugarcane. For one year they were watering the sugarcane field and the silk cotton trees shared the water. Now they have harvested the sugarcane. The silk cotton trees stand more than 11-12 feet in height, which is tremendous growth.
These silk cotton trees will start giving the yield from next year itself. If they had transplanted their cotton trees in a shortcut method just for the sake of voucher, now they will not be having 300 two years old silk cotton trees.
Seminar observations and results
Answers to the questions raised by the Small Group Members during the Seminar on 27th August 2006
1. Is there an office for TIST India in Chennai (India)?
Answer: Should TIST have an office. All group members said yes. Ramesh explained the following: One of the very important goals of the TIST program is to ensure that a large majority of the Greenhouse Gas income (also referred to as the GHG dosai) goes to the Small Groups that are planting the trees. There are various costs of running the TIST program such as quantification, training, approval of the GHG credits to be sold and finding buyers for it, operating the TIST website and database, running seminars for Small Groups etc. All of these costs eat into the GHG dosai. If we are not very careful then most of the dosai could get “eaten” by all these costs to run the program and thus leaving behind very little for the Small Groups. In order to reduce the cost of running the TIST program so that more of the dosai is left behind for the Small Groups, TIST is establishing limits on expenditures. Which is why TIST does not have any local office. Also, most of TIST work is done by the Small Groups and in the villages. So having an office in Chennai does not make sense.
2. Is there any condition that certain species of trees should not be planted?
Answer: For the GHG business to work, the species of trees planted should yield good amount of carbon. This is why TIST does not want people to plant certain species that are bushes and not trees. Also, TIST wants people to plant species which they will keep alive for a long period and not cut them down in a short time.
3. What is the life span of Casuarina trees?
Answer: There was a lot of discussion among the participants about this. Finally every one agreed that if the casuarinas trees are left alone without harvesting them, they can easily last for 20 to 30 years.
4. When long term tree species are planted, they are generally planted with much higher spacing and so less number of trees are accommodated in one acre and so the member would get very less voucher payment – this seems unfair, what can be done?
Answer: Long term tree species can yield many other benefits for the groups that can generate more income that can in the long run far exceed the voucher payments. Also, if Small Groups can demonstrate the ability to plant long term species that generate a lot of carbon and at a good survival rate, then TIST may be able to pay them more for their trees. Such quality trees can increase the income for the program and thus based on the 70%-30% split can bring more revenue to the groups.
5. Jetropha is a tree or shrub – When will we get reply for this?
Answer: TIST is still trying to get information from the government of India if it will allow us to take credit for Jatropha trees. Then there was discussion among the participants where some reported that when Jatropha is planted for the purpose of harvesting seeds for biodiesel, the tree is regularly pruned and trimmed. This results in the tree not growing to a big size and thus not storing a lot of carbon. Therefore it is not a good tree for the carbon business if it is planted for biodiesel seeds. Some participants said that Pungamania is another species that can yield biodiesel seeds and that tree does not have to be pruned or trimmed.
to harvest the seeds. So it may be a better choice for those who are interested in selling seeds for biodiesel manufacture. However, some participants reported that Pungamania takes longer to begin yielding seeds compared to Jatropha.
6.Will TIST India have fulltime permanent employees?
Answer: There was quite a bit of debate about this and some participants insisted on TIST having many full-time employees. The example of the dosai was given again and that to reduce the costs to the program, having many fulltime employees is not the right solution. TIST should instead build capacity in the villages where people are doing training, coordination and other things to help operate the program. However, as TIST expands it will add the requisite number of employees but the focus will always be on building capacity in the villages where TIST is to help the SGs operate their own program.
7. Should TIST India grow?
Answer: Yes the program should grow. However it should grow so that it is easier to run the program. The concept of a TIST cluster was explained: A cluster is an area within which 40-60 Small Groups are all located within walking distance of each other. Having clusters of groups reduces the distances traveled by trainers and quantifiers to reach the group members and their trees. In say one month, quantifiers can quantify many more groups that are all within one or more clusters compared to quantifying groups that are scattered. Similarly the number of groups that can be trained in month by TIST trainers will be much higher if the training is inside clusters where all groups can attend by walking to the training event. Therefore, creating clusters reduces the cost for running the TIST program and there is more of the GHG dosai left for paying the Small Groups. So TIST should expand by adding new groups that are within walking distances of the existing TIST groups.
8. How do we get new small groups for TIST India?
Answer: Participants were asked for ideas. Participants agreed to tell their friends and relatives about TIST and the benefits they have received from the program. They agreed to call them to the Nodes and introduce them to other TIST participants and see the results. Participants also volunteered to recruit groups themselves that were within walking and biking distances of their groups so that TIST can form clusters of Small Groups. Participants requested TIST to come up with an incentive plan to compensate for their efforts in recruiting new groups. '
9. Even after meetings and quantification, why some small groups have not got their voucher?
Answer: We are still waiting for some Small Groups to sign the GHG contract and so there payments are delayed till they sign the agreement. Also, some groups had promised to start nurseries with multiple species of trees rather than the monoculture plantations. We are waiting for these groups to keep their promise till we pay for their trees.
Why does TIST pay for trees?
• Carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere from burning of petrol and diesel from the vehicles. From burning of firewood for cooking. From burning of coal to generate electricity and several other sources. All of those fuels contain carbon and it is that carbon that combines with the oxygen in the air to form CO2 when the carbon burns
• Over the last 100 years, human activity has meant that the CO2 in our atmosphere has continuously increased. The CO2 in the atmosphere traps the heat from the sun and the earth is slowly beginning to warm. This is also referred to as greenhouse effect and that is why CO2 is called a greenhouse gas or GHG. There are other GHGs as well.
• When the Earth gets warmer imagine what might happen to the ice at the North and South poles – it will melt.
• This will increase sea level and cause disastrous flooding for all coastal areas around the world in another 50 years or so. As we all know that most of the countries’ economic situation depends on their major cities, many of which are in coastal areas. India’s major two cities are Chennai and Mumbai, which are on the coast. In next few decades if the sea level increases we may loose major portions of Chennai and Mumbai.
Solution and where TIST comes
• When the tree grows it gets its food from the soil i.e. the nutrients, carbon dioxide and the sunlight.
• It purifies the air by absorbing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen
• The carbon from the carbon dioxide is retained by the trees and the oxygen is released back into the atmosphere.
• There is a lot of pollution in the air caused by carbon dioxide (from industries, burning wood, vehicles). This is reduced by trees taking carbon dioxide from the air.
• So when a tree is cut for firewood, it increases carbon dioxide in the air through burning. It also complicates the problem since that tree is not left to take in that extra carbon dioxide from the air.
• Many people all over the world are trying to come up with different ways to control this problem.
• Most of the solutions mainly concentrate on reducing the emission of carbon dioxide in the first place. However, the best solutions try to get the carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, like TIST.
• So this is the reason why TIST is planting trees. Pollution is a problem that affects millions of people and there are companies and governments that are willing to pay people who are planting trees to reduce pollution.
• There are some governments and companies who are paying for every ton of carbon dioxide absorbed, which is why the small groups can be paid for the ability of their trees to store carbon.
• The price is dictated by the world markets and rules that govern it.
Why Does TIST Require that Trees be Kept Alive for 30 Year?
The below graph is plotted for a single tree which is growing continuously. You can see the CO2 stored in the tree is higher and higher each year. TIST is assuming you’ll keep a tree alive for at least 30 years. We’re predicting how much carbon will be in that tree at that time, and how much that carbon will be worth. The price is determined by the market price US$ per tonne of GHG equivalent. The big assumption is that you keep your trees alive for 30 years.
Using that value we come up with how much money can we pay over the 30 years. Remember that some of the trees die naturally and so we have to take in to account a survival rate also. That’s how we come up with the Rs. 1.5 per tree per year. During the initial years the trees have very small carbon value, then it starts increasing. When your trees are small you should actually be paid less than the Rs. 1.5 per tree per year, but we pay you more. The carbon value is so low during the initial years.
If you cut the tree, TIST can’t sell the carbon, so all the money is lost. If you plant several hundreds of trees in your groves each year, but are always cutting the trees when they are say 8 years old and replacing them with new trees, then the carbon stored in your groves will follow a pattern approximately like below. However, since you never let your trees grow to 30 years, the amount of carbon stored in your trees is much lesser.
Therefore TIST is overpaying for your trees because the TIST payment is based on the assumption that you will keep your trees alive for 30 years at least. If Small Groups plant and harvest trees as shown below, then TIST will have to pay much lesser for your trees because the average amount of carbon reduced per tree is much lesser and therefore the per tree payment should also be much lesser than the Rs. 1.5 per year.
The income from GHG is the only source of long term funding for TIST. You can look at GHG income as a big dosai that everyone has to eat from. The GHG income pays for all expenses to run the TIST program – training the small groups, quantification, seminars, calculating and approving the carbon in the trees (CAAC cost). There is a lot of work to do before the carbon can be sold. Then there are the staff costs for the in-country people (accounting, tech support, training, stakeholder relations etc). There are small group payments for trees. So you can see that there are people who are sharing and eating this dosai. If Small Groups will cut their trees in 8 years or so then there would not be enough GHG income to pay for all the program expenses and also to pay the Small Groups.
TIST expects that by reducing the cost to run the program, while maximizing the carbon credits created by Small Groups’ trees, it can make a substantial profit. 70% of such a profit would then go to the Small Groups and only 30% would go to the investors of the program. Remember that the investor is taking a lot of risk by putting their money in to the program and yet when there is a profit 70% goes to the Small Groups. This is a great opportunity for the Small Groups and they can make the most of it by planting and maintaining trees in such a way to maximize the carbon creation and also helping to operate the TIST program to reduce the costs. The Small Groups are an integral part of the GHG business where they can control the profit that they can make from the GHG business.
Rewards & Awards
Write an article on “The Importance of being in Small Group” and win exciting gift. The winner will be given a gift and they will feature in the title sheet of Chezhumai.
Job Opportunity
There are few vacancies in TIST India like, Quantifier & Coordinator. Interested members may meet your TIST Officials. You can also introduce your relatives and friends for these jobs, but they should join with TIST as Small Groups before taking up the responsibilities of a Quantifier or Coordinator.