English

Germany`s Michael Otto Foundation considers buying carbon credits from Belarus

The German-based Michael Otto Foundation considers buying from Belarus carbon credits for a total of EUR3 million to EUR5 million, Viktar Fyanchuk, director of an NGO named Protection of the Fatherland`s Birds, told reporters in Minsk on April 1.

Mr. Fyanchuk said that Belarus could currently offer credits resulting from the rehabilitation of some 30,000 hectares of damaged peatlands.

The country may sell emission credits only in the voluntary market, as a Kyoto Protocol amendment that would give it access to the Joint Implementation mechanism has not been ratified so far.

Alyaksandr Kazulin, a senior researcher at the Research and Development Center on Bioresources of the National Academy of Sciences, said that 35,000 hectares of damaged peatlands had been rehabilitated in Belarus. There is one million hectares of damaged peatlands more; the swamps do not absorb carbon dioxide but emit the gas, Mr. Kazulin said. A small amount of money should be invested to restore them and reduce annual emissions by 50 million tons further, he said.

Mr. Kazulin noted the need to establish a foundation under the aegis of the environmental protection ministry to manage sales of carbon credits and complete the development of the relevant legal framework. //BelaPAN