ACCORDING to Myanmar and international environmentalists, Myanmar can profit handsomely by establishing projects related to clean development mechanisms (CDM). CDM techniques are aimed at reducing carbon emissions/

Dr Michael See, an author of the book Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Global Business Aspects, said Myanmar has a lot of potential for developing both small- and large-scale CDM projects under the Kyoto Protocol.

Dr See, who visited Myanmar last year for a workshop on this, said via email: “These projects, if successfully validated, registered and implemented, shall lead to the award of ‘carbon credits’ (otherwise known as ‘certified emissions’ ).” Industries that reduce their carbon emissions can earn carbon credits that can be traded like money.

He added that he would like to see a mutually beneficial partnership develop between the government of Myanmar, the people of Myanmar and NGOs and international aid agencies to jointly develop CDM projects
In 1997, the Kyoto Protocol established CDM, which enables developed countries and countries in transition that adhere to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to meet greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction targets at lower costs through projects in developing countries.

As a result of the Kyoto Protocol, carbon has become a tradable commodity with an associated value. One tonne of carbon dioxide reduced through a CDM project, when certified by a designated operational entity, is known as a unit of certified emission reduction (CER) and can be traded between countries.
Revenue from CERs can constitute part of a project’s annual cash inflow, equity or debt.

CDM projects can include those focused on renewable energy, forestation and reforestation of projects, fuel switching (in the industry, transport and residential sectors), solid waste management and advanced coal-based power generation technologies.

Dr See said small-scale, renewable energy-efficient projects that are powered by biomass, landfill, wind, geothermal, solar, solar photovoltaic, and perhaps wave energy might be good ones to start with in Myanmar.

He also said that petroleum and gas energy projects may offer large scale CDM opportunities.

“Myanmar will profit from the foreign direct investment, technology transfer and economic progress that may result from CDM projects,” he said.

U Ohn, the general secretary of the Forest Resource Environment Development and Conservation Association, said there’s also good potential for establishing afforestation and reforestation projects, as Myanmar is rich with forests and people in the forest sector already have basic knowledge to carry out these projects.

He said Bolivia earned US$95 million for selling 850,000 hectares of forest – without cutting them down for timber production – to be used as a carbon sink by three US industrial companies. A carbon sink is a forested area in which carbon is sequestered and absorbed.

If Myanmar could get the same rate as Bolivia did for its forest, the country could earn more than $200 million by selling 20.6 million hectares, according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Forest in 1999.

U Ohn said that two hectares of forest can absorb three tons of carbon, and added that funds and support from the international community will help Myanmar conserve its forests and wildlife.

U Ohn said many developing countries, including Belize, Costa Rica and Bolivia, are now earning profits from forest projects under CDM.

‘’We can earn a lot of profit without damaging our forests,” said U Ohn, whose organisation is the first environmental organisation in Myanmar.

However, afforestation and reforestation types of projects remain an open and quite contentious issue in international climate-change negotiations.

It is difficult to figure out what kinds of trees can absorb how much carbon. And the techniques are still under discussion too.

Dr See also said that a number of projects have been proposed already around the world, but the methodology lacks a coherent, scientific and reproducible approach for determining project and baseline emissions.

He said forest projects are ‘legal’ under the Kyoto Protocol, but they may not have the same ranking compared to say, renewable energy projects.

“For example, the EU may not want to buy carbon credits from these type of projects,” he said, because they are not sure just how much carbon may have been absorbed by any one forest.