Making a difference through Analog Forestry carbon trading
Carbon Conservation Company, a firm set up to offer 'carbon footprint
consultancy and an ecologically responsible alternative to current
carbon offset trading', announced the formal launch of its first vintage
of voluntary carbon credits. Company CEO Subramaniam Easwaren invited
'concerned companies and individuals who wish to obtain carbon offsets
that are more than mere licences to pollute' to consider investing in
the company's 'sustainable carbon credits'.
Awarding Certificate to
Dr. Mohan Munasinghe by Subramaniam Easwaren.
The firm specialises in helping companies calculate their impact on
the environment including their carbon and water footprints. After
helping them monitor their footprints, they then offer the companies
ecologically sound credits to offset what they cannot reduce.
They are now working with several boutique eco hotels to reduce their
carbon footprints while also advising individuals and organisations on
how to manage their lands in an environmentally sound manner.
Conservation Carbon Company (CCC) carbon credits are earned through a
special process known as Analog Forestry, which helps preserve
biodiversity and benefits local communities even as it sequesters carbon
through the planting of trees.
Analog Forestry is the brainchild of Dr. Ranil Senanayake, a famous
biologist, conservationist and champion of the world's rainforests, who
is celebrated for the discovery of several new plant and animal species
and who founded the International Analog Forestry Network in 1996.
Dr. Senanayake serves in a senior capacity on the board of CCC.
Making biodiversity profitable unlike traditional carbon-capture
projects, which tend to be monocultural and industrial in nature, Analog
Forestry preserves natural habitats and biodiversity by making them
economically useful to local communities.
The system is financed by trading carbon credits earned by planting
trees and other forest vegetation to promote and extend these habitats.
'Thriving, ecologically self-sustaining forests are one of the best ways
of keeping Earth - and ourselves - healthy,' says Dr. Senanayake.
'Analog forestry offers, in my opinion, the best way forward. It's a
complex setup, involving businesses in the West, traditional communities
in poor countries and a lot of ecological and forestry expertise. These
factors interact to the benefit of all. Everybody profits.'
In each of its Analog Forestry projects, CCC seeks to extend and
replicate existing forest coverage over a selected region, picking a
threatened ecosystem and building on it.
The company's experts, in collaboration with Rainforest Rescue
International, choose what trees to plant, as well as what additional
flora and fauna to introduce and cultivate, based on what is local to
the area plus what can be added to enhance biodiversity and
Local communities also play an integral role in each project, which
CCC encourages by picking trees and other plants that produce foods,
medicines and other products that community members can use or sell.
Carbon credits produced by projects like Hiniduma are independently
monitored and validated.
At present, this function is performed by Forest Garden Product
Inspection & Certification, the first accredited certification authority
under the International Analog Forestry Network (IAFN). The Analog
Forestry-based carbon credits offered by CCC are voluntary rather than
mandatory, but offer qualitative and quantitative benefits well beyond
those packaged in a typical Kyoto- or EU-based credit scheme.
Purchasers of credits are offered the further assurance of
involvement in the process themselves, by becoming partners in
monitoring and evaluation through membership in IAFN. Carbon stocks are
monitored quarterly for the first three years and twice yearly for the
remaining period of investment.
Annual progress reports are issued to clients based on the monitors'
findings. 'Accountability is key to all our operations,' says
Subramaniam. Endorsement by international experts Subramaniam also notes
with pride that CCC's activities have won praise and endorsement from a
number of prominent environmentalists and ecologists.
Mohan Munesinghe, an internationally celebrated physicist and
climatologist who won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize together with his
colleagues on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), has
called it 'a brave and imaginative way of leveraging Kyoto to obtain
real, sustainable environmental benefits.' A number of other ecologists
and environmentalists have also offered plaudits. CCC's efforts have a
hardheaded business side to them as well.
'To ethically committed companies around the world, we're saying: if
you or your organization are looking to purchase carbon offsets, please
take a close look at us. What we offer is a triply-integrated solution
to the problems of climate change, habitat loss and rural poverty.
Spice Food Festival to delight your taste buds
The fourth World Spice Food Festival marking nine days of thrilling
culinary extravaganza from November 6 to 14 will start off with a
tantalizing array of edibles at Water's Edge on November 5.
Organised by the Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA), the
World Spice Food Festival will comprise of a three day Food Village at
Galle Face Green from November 6 to 8 followed by individual food
promotions at each of the participating hotels, up to 14th, to culminate
with a closing ceremony on November 15.
The spectacular highlight, which will bring a distinct flavour to the
festival is the Spice Food Village. Eighteen Colombo-based hotels and
restaurants will participate at the Food Village at Galle Face Green
manning stalls with 21 signature chefs specializing in various cuisines
of the world, specially flown in for the event from Vietnam, Singapore,
Hong Kong, Malaysia, Spain, and also already working in Sri Lanka,
attached to some of the leading hotels in the country.
The World Spice Food Festival was initiated in 2005 as an annual
event based on Sri Lanka's reputation of being an island abundant in
spices, to create more dining options for visitors to the country, while
providing an opportunity for the Sri Lankan culinary fraternity to
exchange culinary know-how with specialty chefs from around the world.
The Galle Face Green will take on a festive air for the first time after
its re-opening, with live music and cookery demonstrations including the
first ever spice art competition, Sri Lankan crab cooking competition,
cooking with signature chefs for housewives, and special cultural
performances giving a truly unforgettable dining experience for the
The Spice Art Competition will be held at the Galle Face Green on
November 6 from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Hotel kitchen artists and students
from the University of Visual and Performing Arts will take part in the
event, making a total of 30 participants in competition for the Best
Spice Artist Award.
Built at a cost of Rs. 570 million:
'Serene Pavilions' starts operations
Sri Lanka's first ever luxury tourist hotel to be open after the war
'The Serene Pavilions' at Wadduwa will officially commence operations
for local and foreign tourists from November 01 (today).
CEO Anura Lokuhetty
The 'Serene Pavilions', located within a 45 minutes drive from
Colombo is built at a cost of Rs. 570 million. It consists of 12
pavilions and each pavilion has 2500 square feet area.
Speaking to Sunday Observer, Chief Executive and Deputy Chairman,
'Serene Pavilions' Anura Lokuhetty said that each pavilion has its own
swimming pool, a large sitting room and a dinning area, a bed room with
a sea view, a kitchenette, a butler's pantry and a private bar.
He said that all 12 pavilions are fully equipped with other
sophisticated equipment for the benefit of guests.
Commenting on the future developments of Sri Lankan tourism industry,
Lokuhetty, the former GM and Director of Galle Face Hotel and former CEO
of the Ceylon Hotels Corporation, said as the war is over our holiday
makers, and foreign tourists could once again visit the country's
He also said, the ideal time has come to develop the country's
tourism industry and it is the duty of everyone to make this a success.
Lokuhetty also thanked the British hotelier Clive Leach for making a
huge investment on the 'Serene Pavilions' and expects a large number of
tourists arrivals not only from England, but also from other
destinations in the coming months.