Selling the carbon in farmyard trees: Gazipur students' Carbodit is runner-up in Asia

A team of students from Gazipur Agricultural University wants the trees standing in Bangladeshi farmers' yards to earn their owners money, by measuring the carbon they store and selling it as carbon credits. Their initiative, Carbodit, came second at an international rural development innovation contest held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, from 7 to 9 October. Iran won among 187 proposals from 13 Asia-Pacific countries; the Bangladeshi team finished ahead of entrants from India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.

The model works like this: trees absorb carbon dioxide from the air and store carbon. If the carbon stock of homestead and agroforestry trees is measured scientifically and verified to a recognised standard, it can be built into a carbon credit project, giving smallholders a way into international carbon markets. The team plans village-based 'Village Carbon Groups', tree data collection and trained young people to measure the trees.

Carbodit has already started fieldwork in Gazipur, Khulna, Bagerhat and Natore, and 21 students are involved. Team leader, chief executive and co-founder Saifullah Manwar leads it with chief operating officer and co-founder Fabian Taskin, chief financial officer Aditi Ghosh and Arfa Saiyara Riza on technology development.

Sri Lanka's prime minister Dr Harini Amarasuriya was chief guest at the Asia-Pacific Conference on Innovations in Rural Development and CIRDAP Knowledge Circuit Dialogue, chaired by CIRDAP director general Dr P Chandra Shekara. The Bangladesh delegation was led by Md Saif Uddin Ahmed, director general of the Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development (BARD).

For farmers, the idea offers another source of income from yard trees beyond fruit, timber and shade, and a reason to keep trees standing rather than fell them. Gazipur Agricultural University vice-chancellor Professor Dr G K M Mustafizur Rahman said the result was a source of pride for the university and an inspiration to its students.

Photo: Ujjal86 / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0); a rural homestead surrounded by trees

Source: samakal