World's Largest REDD Project, Rimba Raya, Successfully Passes Its 2nd VCS Verification Audit
Online, January 28, 2014 (Newswire.com) - World's Largest REDD Project, Rimba Raya, successfully passes its 2nd VCS Verification audit from SCS Global Services, verifying over 8.5 million tons of Gold level credits under the CCB Standard.
Indonesia's Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve has become the world's largest verified "Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation" (REDD) carbon offset project after successfully undergoing a 2nd round of verification by SCS Global Services under the Carbon Standard (VCS). Verified for an unprecedented 8.5 million tons, the project will preserve carbon-rich tropical peat swamp and forest, originally slated for conversion into palm oil plantations, while also providing a critical reserve for the endangered Orangutan.
Located in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia on the island of Borneo, and covering an area of more than 64,000 hectares, the project expects to generate an average of nearly four million tons of additional stored carbon dioxide (CO2e) per year.
During the initial year, the SCS audit team confirmed that 2,181,352 Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) were generated from July 1, 2009 through June 30, 2010. No REDD project has ever been issued this quantity of VCUs for a single year reporting period. "The Rimba Raya project has undergone a lengthy and complex review process," said Dr. Robert J. Hurbes, SCS Executive Vice President. "The scale of this project is truly precedent setting, demonstrating a strong market value in preserving forests."
This second audit has verified a staggering 8.5 million VCUs for the auditing period July 2010 to June 2013.
Over 30 years, the project will reduce total emissions of more than 120 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2e).
The region has suffered from high rates of deforestation and is home to over 94 threatened and endangered species, including the Bornean Orangutan. Orangutan Foundation International, operated by renowned primatologist and conservationist Dr. Birute Mary Galdikas, is the NGO Partner and Project Beneficiary for the project. The sale of carbon credits is funding the preservation of critical Orangutan habitat.
"Rimba Raya is one of the most important Orangutan conservation projects in the world, said Galdikas. "It is nothing less than the promise of survival for the endangered Orangutan."
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