Community: Kayeka village, Dowa district, Malawi
Vintage(s) planted: 2010
Number of trees planted: Approximately 600 trees: 400 trees for 2 hectares of dispersed inter-planting and 200 trees for 6 100-meter segmenets of boundary plantings.
Carbon benefit created by Fyson: 193 tonnes of CO2
Earnings to date: $507
Total expected earnings: $845 (over 10 years, based on successful maintenance of plantings)
In 2008, Fyson Mphanda joined the Clinton Development Initiative’s Trees of Hope Project in order to protect his land from climate change and improve his 6-member family’s access to forest resources such as firewood. Since 2008, Fyson has planted 600 meters of trees in boundary planting and two hectares of dispersed systematic inter-planting (DSI), which will absorb more than 190 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere. Boundary planting, used by producers’ farms to define field boundaries, has many benefits, including the preservation of biodiversity, the conservation of soil, and the protection of fenced area from livestock and wind damage. DSI is a system of inter-planting trees with arable crops to improve soil fertility over time, but its short term benefits include the provision of firewood, timber, traditional medicine, and increased crop yields.
Fyson has used the supplemental income from carbon credit sales to purchase a cow for his family. The manure from the cow is used as an agricultural input, an ox-drawn cart facilitates transportation, and hiring his cow to others in his community further increases his income. In addition, the trees that he had planted provide him and his family with firewood and timber, so his wife no longer needs to walk long distances to collect them. Fyson says that through the Trees of Hope project, he has been able to increase his knowledge based around the benefits of forestry systems and practice better management of nurseries and tree-based land use systems.
Learn more about the Clinton Development Initiative’s Trees of Hope Project at COTAP.org/Malawi. Create income for farmers like Fyson Mphanda by calculating and offsetting your CO2 emissions here.
