REVENUE GENERATING INITIATIVES
Carbon Revenue
A country can utilize its resources such as forests, swamps, or mangroves to generate sustainable revenue. The Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) provides the mechanism to help a country achieve that goal. Avenues for revenue generation include Carbon Credits and Carbon Offsets that seek to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, or greenhouse gas that contribute to climate change.
The goal of carbon credits and offsets is to create a financial incentive to reduce carbon emissions. For example, companies or individuals can offset their greenhouse gas emissions by buying carbon credits.
There are pre-requisites for the establishment of carbon revenue and Land Data Plus has the expertise and experience to provide the backbone for the process.
Pre-requisites:
1. Resource ownership – Proof of ownership to the forest, swamp or mangrove. Land Data Plus provides Land/Title Adjudication and Land Registration services to secure title and registration of the carbon resource.
2. Resource Cadastre – The creation of an inventory of the carbon resource and the development of a modern Cadastre to establish its extent and value. Land Data Plus has over 40 years’ experience in the development of modern land registries and cadastres around the world and can create the cadastre required for carbon revenue generation.
3. Resource Legislation - Legislation is required to implement the carbon/climate resource initiative into legal effect. Aspects of the legislative process include the administration and institutional framework of the climate or carbon resource, the requirements for carbon trading, the control and management of carbon trading, verification and certification, the costs and benefits sharing and the application for climate or carbon trading and the related fees and charges. Land Data Plus has the expertise and experience to draft the required legislation and regulatory law that is required for carbon revenue generation.
Carbon Financing
Land Data Plus provides the platform to help secure funding for the repayment of a non-recourse 20-year bond. This bond is created from the verified carbon credits generated by the development of programs within the Agricultural Forest & Other Land Use (AFOLU) protocol approved by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
The carbon bond is different from the “Debt Reduction Bond” created for Belize by the Nature Conservancy in that 100% of the proceeds are allocated to programs that will facilitate the reduction of Greenhouse Gasses (GHG) Emissions. However, the option will be there to apply to debt reduction.
The value of the bond will be directly related to the estimated value generated over time. However, a minimum “base line” will determine the initial face value of the bond. The value will be determined by the number of countries that participate and the efforts employed for the purpose. The bond will pay upfront the total estimated value.
The proceeds for the first two years will be directed at the creation of laws for the development of “best practices” and the allocation of the proceeds.
Existing Caribbean financial institutions and capital markets may mobilize funds, whether through conventional bank lending or alternative securitization of revenue streams deriving from climate change mitigation and adaptation activities. Since 1980, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) has been offering training in Public Policy Analysis and Management (PPAM) and Project Cycle Management (PCM) to its Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs).
Who’s Eligible? (All 19 BMC's are eligible to participate in the program)
Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda
The Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
British Virgin Islands
Cayman Islands
Dominica
Grenada
Guyana
Haiti
Jamaica
Montserrat
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Suriname
Trinidad and Tobago
Turks and Caicos Islands
Other Revenue Generating Initiatives include:
Land/Title Adjudication and Registration which secures sustainable revenue from land and leases.
Maximizing Internally Generated Revenue within Government Offices which encapsulates an extensive review of the workings of revenue collection offices to devise means to maximize revenue generation/collection. Some of these offices would include the Land Registry, Lands & Survey, Inland Revenue, Customs & Excise, Licensing, Post Office etc.