Protect a unique ecosystem owned by two Afro-Colombian communities
Overview
Bajo Calima y Bahía Málaga
Colombia
104,530 ha
Avoided Unplanned Deforestation
Bajo Calima y Bahía Málaga (BCBM) is an avoided deforestation project started in 2013 on the Pacific coast of Colombia that protects and restores an area of land as big as the city of Austin. The Colombian government granted the land to two Afro-descendant communities, and the project is now fully owned and operated by those communities. This project is next to a major metropolitan area, making its protection all the more critical. The project exists in one of the cloudiest and rainiest portions of the world, receiving over seven meters of rain per year, which also makes it a very unique ecosystem with rich flora and fauna.
Registry
Registry ID: 1395
Certifications
Methodology
VM0006
Ocean nearby to this project along the Colombian coast (Credit: Juan Pablo Daza - Equipo Fondo Acción)
Pachama's project evaluation criteriaPachama rigorously evaluates every project listed on our marketplace to ensure that we're surfacing only the highest quality projects. Our Evaluation Criteria includes a series of checks that every project must pass as well as a number of informative insights on project quality. You can see a preview of these checks below.
01
Additional
Does the project have a net additional climate benefit?
Net additional climate benefit
Emissions reductions are calculated based on the difference between baseline, project, and leakage emissions. Pachama analyzes emissions claims to confirm that the project has a net additional climate benefit, and each credit represents at least one metric ton of carbon.
02
Conservative
Is the climate benefit based on sound and conservative claims?
Baseline claims
Pachama analyzes baseline emissions accounting to confirm that the reported baseline emissions are less than what Pachama observes with remote sensing.
Project claims
Pachama assesses the project boundary, project emissions accounting, carbon inventory, and financial and legal additionality.
Leakage claims
Pachama summarizes the project's reported leakage emissions accounting.
03
Durable
Is the climate benefit long-lasting?
Ongoing monitoring
Pachama quantifies emissions since the last verification to ensure the project continues to deliver a climate benefit.
Project risks
Pachama characterizes fire and other natural risks and summarizes buffer pool contributions.
04
Beyond Carbon
Does the project deliver benefits beyond carbon?
Social impacts
If a project occurs on community-owned land, Pachama confirms the community is fully informed of the project activity and impact, consent is given without coercion, and a grievance and redress mechanism is in place.
Ecological impacts
For ARR projects, Pachama analyzes native species planting, species diversity, regional suitability, and reforestation practices.
Certifications
Pachama provides a summary of the project's awarded certifications.
1/4
A quantitative threshold that each project must align with in order to pass Pachama's Evaluation Criteria. If a project does not align with any one of Pachama's checks, it will not be listed on the marketplace.
A qualitative insight relevant to carbon credit quality. Quality Insights do not impact whether a project aligns with Pachama's Evaluation Criteria.
Impacts beyond carbon
Local landowners drive a community-oriented focus
Since the project’s inception, local communities have been active participants. The early involvement of local communities has created awareness among community members and readiness for project implementation. The local landowners formed Governing Councils to help oversee the execution of the project and the funds that come from these carbon credits (with support from NGO Fondo Accion). A considerable amount of project programming is spent on community engagement and support, including improving health outcomes, infrastructure building, and working with local agroforestry to improve yields without deforesting additional land.
13
Climate action
The project aims to alleviate pressures on the forests, like illegal logging, through the support of governance capacity (including individual property titling, land-use planning, and conservation zone demarcation) along with the generation of alternate income sources. These project activities contribute to social and economic development in one of the poorest areas of Colombia.
While a wealth of knowledge exists with respect to its unique species diversity, an in-depth understanding of both biodiversity at a local scale and ecosystem dynamics at a landscape scale is still limited. An important objective of the project is to improve the mapping of local diversity in the region, and it is very likely that additional species and ecosystem characteristics will become better known as a result. In the meantime, a substantial number of species known to occur in the project zone are documented in territorial and forest management plans.
This region is renowned for its richness in biodiversity
Thanks to enormous annual rainfall and topographic diversity, the project is incredibly biodiverse with 831 bird species, 195 amphibians, 167 mammals, 210 reptiles, and 5,124 plant species. The project estimates that there are a further 18 mammal, 9 amphibian, and 5 reptile species threatened or endangered within the project. The project is continuing to work to increase the level of knowledge about species and ecosystem diversity.
Public registry documentsApplicable calculation methods are referenced in the reports below. Note that registries do not publicly provide all pertinent data required to reproduce emissions calculations. However, Independent Validation and Verification Bodies have access to the data needed to reproduce and verify emissions calculations.