VCS934 REDD+ DRC (Congo)

VCS934 | REDD+, DRC (Congo) is a forest (nature-based) Verified Carbon Standard project protecting biodiversity and supporting local communities.

Project Description: VCS934 | REDD+, DRC (Congo)

The project area is almost 300,000 ha of ecologically rich landscapes, including some of the world’s most important wetlands.

Previously zoned for commercial timber extraction, the area currently contains over 3.5 million m3 of merchantable hardwood.

The forest is home to chimpanzees, bonobos and forest elephants as well as around 50,000 people.

The leading deforestation drivers are logging, subsistence agricultural practices and aggressive fuelwood or charcoal use.

The project’s activities consist largely of participatory community-based conservation initiatives.

These initiatives reduce local incentives for unsustainable land use and place an emphasis on agricultural improvements.

Carbon financing funds activities designed to reduce and hopefully, eliminate deforestation in the project area.

The project’s focus is on stopping any planned legal timber harvesting while reducing unplanned illegal logging.

The implemented activities have stopped logging, reduced unsustainable agricultural practices and enhanced infrastructure.

The activities have also vastly improved health care, increased nutrition, improved education and the access to markets.

Sustainability Beyond Carbon

There is more to offsets than just carbon.

Each VCS carbon credit is a tonne of verified climate benefit, no matter the type of project.

This carbon offset project provides multiple sustainability co-benefits beyond just carbon and helps link your climate response to improved sustainability.

The project works closely with the project area’s villages and communities to educate, learn, understand and respect local customs.

Engagement with each major village and/or seat of traditional authority will continue throughout the project’s life.

All traditional authorities gave their consent to develop the project in a participatory manner.

The project improves livelihoods for the surrounding community through infrastructure and socio-economic development activities.

These include agricultural improvement activities and village-centred capacity building through the Local Development Committees.

The project’s initial objectives included:

• building a minimum of 20 schools;
• construction of healthcare centres in 5 villages plus reparation and extension of secondary hospitals in 2 villages;
• assisting transportation to off-concession markets for agricultural and other products;
• providing a network of rural canteens;
• improving agricultural production techniques;
• generating employment by recruiting from the local communities.

The latest Monitoring Report covered CY2021 and identified that the project has:

• built 8 schools in the project zone during this period;
• employed 271 people (17 women) and improved the livelihoods for 5,075 people (422 women);
• improved health services were provided for 9,514 people (3,617 women);
• provided improved education access or quality for 3,617 people (1,605 women);
• increased access to clean drinking water for 11,836 people (8,285 women);
• continued improving agricultural methods using demonstration gardens and by providing cassava varieties with increased yield and quality;
• promotes more sustainable fishery management using sustainable aquaculture;
• continued species monitoring and improving inventories of species present in the Project Area;
• provided continued education and awareness raising of the importance of biodiversity in the Project Area.

Want to know more about VCS934 | REDD+, DRC (Congo)?

The project’s design and monitoring, validation and verification reports are publicly available here: https://registry.verra.org/app/projectDetail/VCS/934