Carbon Sequestration Pioneers in Southern Philippines aim for synergy

Synergy is adding one to one and getting three. That’s the kind of benefit two pioneers in carbon sequestration in Southern Philippines area aiming for by working together to complement each other’s benefit to the atmosphere.

For over half a century, E. Peleaz Ranch, Inc. (EPRI) has sought to transform its almost two thousand hectares of pasture land at the border of Bukidnon and Cagayan de Oro city into a thriving forest.

Except for an accident some years back which resulted in the burning of some two hundred hectares of nascent timber land, this haven of former vice president Emmanuel Pelaez’s family has succeeded in preserving the virgin forest within its boundaries, and re-established trees where they were once cut down by loggers bent only in lining their pockets at the expense of future generations of Mindanaoans.

When ‘carbon sink’ and ‘carbon sequestration’ were mere inklings in the minds of environmentalists and forest planners, EPRI was already busy restoring the land to its former glory with new plantings of timber trees which have now grown in breadth and height under their almost seventy years of nurture and stewardship.

Carbon sequestration’ is the term used to describe processes that remove carbon from the atmosphere, for instance, through the use of carbon sinks. A variety of man-made means of capturing and storing carbon, as well as of enhancing natural sequestration processes, are now being explored to help mitigate global warming.

The protocols hold that, since growing vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide, countries that have large areas of forest or other vegetation can deduct a certain amount from their emissions, thus making it easier for them to achieve the desired emission levels. The effectiveness of these provisions is still inconclusive at best, or at worst, controversial.

Inconclusive or not, the Mindanao Coal-Fired Power Plant of STEAG State Power Inc. (SPI) has adopted carbon sequestration as one of its measures to protect the environment.

SPI is now in the process of commissioning its power plants, which incorporate a comprehensive anti-pollution system that includes the control of emissions in the flue gas by air cleaning equipment (including desulphurization to neutralize sulphur, nitrogen dioxide reduction by optimizing combustion, and fly-ash removal using bag filters) and the collection and storage of solid by-products like bottom ash and fly-ash/gypsum in a specially prepared disposal area within the power plant site.

In addition, coal dust suppression from stockpiles will be maintained by regular water spraying with recycled treated water from the plant. All conveyor lines are fully enclosed and the receiving hoppers in the jetty are equipped with water sprayers for coal-dust suppression.

Emission levels are likewise monitored round the clock with the installation of a Continuous Emission Monitoring System (CEMS) that provide computer-generated real-time data. What is interesting is that the CEMS is hooked on-line with the EMB system so that the public will have access on information regarding the company’s compliance with the stringent requirements stipulated in the Clean Air Act.

But perhaps the foremost concern of both the plant managers and environmentalists who are keeping very close tabs on the plant’s progress are its emissions to the atmosphere. For this, SPI has developed a comprehensive environmental conservation program which it will continue to manage and develop over the next 25 years.

Foremost among these is the Comprehensive Forest Conservation Program through which SPI aims to develop and maintain a 1,200 hectare reforestration project in the Mapawa Nature Park at Cugman, Cagayan de Oro City and another 1,000 hectares of urban forestry projects in Villanueva and Tagoloan, Misamis Oriental.

In coordination with the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and EPRI, SPI has started the establishment of a 500 hectare plantation forest; maintains and protects another 500 hectares of existing plantation, and is conducting a Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) on a 200-hectare natural forest in the area as part of the program in compliance with the provisions of the Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC).

This project aims to establish a carbon dioxide sink (or CO2 sink) which is defined as a carbon reservoir that is increasing in size, and is the opposite of a carbon “source”.

Examples of natural sinks are the oceans and growing vegetation, which both remove carbon from the atmosphere by incorporating it into biomass such as plankton and trees. The concept has become a buzz word in environmental protection because of its role in the Kyoto Protocol (Wikepedia).

Jojo Primne, park manager and chief forester of EPRI’s Mapawa Nature Park, simplifies this apparently complicated environmental accounting, thus: “For every ton of carbon dioxide sequestrated by a living tree, it will give off a metric ton of oxygen into the atmosphere and store 1.4 metric tons of water through its root system.”

Some countries want to be able to trade in emission rights in carbon emission markets, to make it possible for one country to buy the benefit of carbon dioxide sinks in another country. It is said that such a market mechanism will help find cost-effective ways to reduce greenhouse emissions.

There is as yet, however, no carbon audit regime for all such markets globally, and none is specified in the Kyoto Protocol. Each nation is on its own to verify actual carbon emission reductions and to account for carbon sequestration using some less formal methods.

In its website, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Science notes that atmospheric levels of CO2 have risen from pre-industrial levels of 280 parts per million (ppm) to present levels of 375 ppm. Evidence suggests this rise in atmospheric CO2 levels is due primarily to increasing use of fossil fuels such as gasoline, diesel and coal.

The site goes on to explain how predictions of global energy use in the next century suggest a continued increase in carbon emissions and rising concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere unless major changes are made in the way we produce and use energy—in particular, and how we manage carbon.

One way to manage carbon is to use energy more efficiently to reduce our need for a major energy and carbon source. Another way is to increase our use of low-carbon and carbon-free fuels. Both approaches are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Renewable Energy Bill has just been passed by the Lower House and is now being deliberated upon in the Senate.

The third and newest way to manage carbon is through carbon sequestration.

Carbon sequestration refers to the provision of long-term storage of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, underground, or the oceans so that the buildup of carbon dioxide (the principal greenhouse gas) concentration in the atmosphere will reduce or slow. In some cases, this is accomplished by maintaining or enhancing natural processes; in other cases, novel techniques are developed to dispose of carbon.

At present, the DOE’s Office of Science is focusing its carbon sequestration efforts on : a) Sequestering Carbon in Underground Geologic Repositories: Geosciences research related to understanding the geophysics and geochemistry of potential reservoirs appropriate for subsurface sequestration of carbon dioxide; and b) Enhancing the Natural Terrestrial Cycle: Identifying ways to enhance carbon sequestration of the terrestrial biosphere through CO2 removal from the atmosphere by vegetation and storage in biomass and soils.

Understanding how carbon dioxide ‘sinks’ perform so we can enhance the ongoing natural processes, and developing innovative new processes, may add powerful new measures to carbon management options.(Office of Science, U.S. Dept of Energy, URL : http://cdiac2.esd.ornl.gov/index.html)

In addition to its carbon sink in Mapawa (which incidentally is the first carbon sink in the country), SPI is also implementing the Villanueva and Tagoloan Urban Forestry Program.

The Villanueva Urban Forestry Project aims to reforest a 500-hectare area within its host municipality within a 25-year period and has already established a plant nursery in cooperation with the local government of Villanueva which shall produce the seedlings needed for this undertaking.

The Tagoloan Urban Forestry Project, on the other hand, aims to preserve and rehabilitate the banks of the Tagoloan River, from which the power plant draws water for its cooling operations. This covers the establishment of 500 hectares targeted as watershed areas along the Tagoloan River, as well as addressing concerns such as indiscriminate quarrying, soil erosion and policies needed to rehabilitate Tagoloan river.

The may still not be any audit mechanism for the global trade in emission rights in carbon emission markets, and the country may still not have the legal basis and implementing guidelines to verify actual carbon emission reductions, and to account for carbon sequestration using some less formal methods.

However, for Misamis Oriental and Northern Mindanao, at least, the SPI project is already providing a leg up on global warming, and making sure future generations accumulate the interest needed through its capital base through what will be by then be well-established carbon sinks in Mapawa, Cagayan de Oro City and Tagoloan and Villanueva in Misamis Oriental.

With this pioneering carbon sink model in Mindanao, environmentalists hope other carbon producers particularly the major CO2-emitting sectors such as the country’s transport and heavy industries, will emulate SPI in actualizing, instead of merely paying lip service to the concept of sustainable development.

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