Demonstrating eligibility of lands

Project participants in afforestation and reforestation (A/R) projects must demonstrate that:

• the land on which the project activity is proposed to be carried out is not currently forested (i.e. the land is 'eligible land'); and
• the proposed project is a valid afforestation or reforestation project activity.

The Executive Board has developed Procedures to demonstrate the eligibility of lands for A/R CDM project activities (EB 35, Annex 18). 

In order to demonstrate that the land is 'eligible land', project proponents must:

1. Demonstrate that the land at the moment the project starts does not contain forest by providing transparent information that:
   1. Vegetation on the land is below the forest thresholds (tree crown cover or equivalent stocking level, tree height at maturity in situ, minimum land area) adopted for the definition of forest by the host country under decisions
      16/CMP.1 and 5/CMP.1 as communicated by the respective DNA; and
   2. All young natural stands and all plantations on the land are not expected to reach the minimum crown cover and minimum height chosen by the host country to define forest; and
   3. The land is not temporarily unstocked, as a result of human intervention such as harvesting or natural causes (EB 35, Annex 18).

In order to demonstrate that the project is an eligible project activity, project proponents must:

2. Demonstrate that the activity is a reforestation or afforestation project activity:
   1. For reforestation project activities, demonstrate that the land was not forest by demonstrating that the conditions outlined under (a) above also applied to the land on 31 December 1989.
   2. For afforestation project activities, demonstrate that for at least 50 years vegetation on the land has been below the thresholds adopted by the host country for definition of forest (EB 35, Annex 18).

The following data is acceptable as proof for the items above:

In order to demonstrate steps 1 (a) and 1 (b), project participants shall provide information that reliably discriminates between forest and non-forest land according to the particular thresholds adopted by the host country, inter alia:

• Aerial photographs or satellite imagery complemented by ground reference data; or
• Land use or land cover information from maps or digital spatial datasets; or
• Ground based surveys (land use or land cover information from permits, plans, or information from local registers such as cadastre, owners registers, or other land registers) (EB 35, Annex 18).

If these are not possible to obtain, project participants may submit written statements attesting to the eligibility of the lands:

If options (a), (b), and (c) are not available/applicable, project participants shall submit a written testimony which was produced by following a Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) methodology or a standard Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) as practised in the host country (EB 35, Annex 18).