Balancing Conservation and Restoration: A Blueprint for Sustainable Carbon Projects 

Forest based carbon-credit demand have undergone a large shift in the last 5 years, with less focus from corporate and institutional buyers on credits issued from Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) and a notable increase in demand for credits for Afforestation, Reforestation, and Revegetation (ARR)¹. The current supply of registered projects are projects issuing credits from single project types, either REDD or ARR². Conservation typically involves protecting existing forests from various threats of deforestation. On the other hand, restoration focuses on reviving degraded areas by replanting forests or restoring ecosystems. Mixed-project designs include project activities that include both restoration and conservation approaches complimenting each other for holistic project designs. Mixed-project designs that include both restoration (ARR) and conservation (REDD) activities are often ecologically and financially sustainable and provide numerous benefits to the climate, community, and biodiversity. 

Understanding the Interplay Between Conservation and Restoration  

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Carbon projects are driven by the need to either prevent carbon emissions or actively remove carbon from the atmosphere. Conservation focuses on preserving existing carbon stocks and sinks, such as forests, while restoration prioritizes increasing vegetation, carbon stocks and restoring degraded ecosystems to a natural, healthier state. 

Conservation is usually seen as a defensive strategy—protecting what’s already there—whereas restoration is a more proactive approach. Both are critical to long-term climate mitigation and biodiversity preservation, but they require different sets of interventions, resources, and expertise. However, landscape protection and restoration cannot be viewed as requiring either conservation or restoration but rather, as a mutually beneficial relationship, especially when considering benefits to biodiversity such as connectivity of habitat or recolonization of native species. 

A blueprint for building projects implementing both conservation and restoration carbon projects would integrate: 

1. Assessing Ecosystem Needs: Where Conservation and Restoration Fit Best 

The first step in designing a carbon project is to thoroughly assess the ecological characteristics and needs of the area in question. 

• Conservation Hotspots: These areas are biologically rich and have high carbon stocks that are under threat from deforestation, agricultural expansion, or climate change. Mature tropical rainforests, peatlands, mangroves, and savannas are strong examples. Protecting these ecosystems is crucial because they host numerous endemic species and store significant amounts of carbon that would otherwise be released if disturbed. Examples include the tropical forests of the Island of New Guinea, Intact tropical peatland forests of Peru, and the extensive savannahs of southern Africa. 

• Challenges: Land use competition and illegal activities (logging, mining) can pose a challenge in conservation projects. They require strong community engagement, buy in, and effective mitigation strategies in place. 

• Restoration Opportunities: Degraded lands, such as deforested areas, drained wetlands, or abandoned agricultural lands, offer substantial potential for carbon sequestration through restoration. Reforestation, or restoring coastal ecosystems can reestablish their carbon-sequestration capacity. Examples include degraded coastal wetlands in Mexico and degraded cattle pastures of temperate South America. 

• Challenges: Restoration can be labor- and resource-intensive, with variable success rates depending on the methods used and local ecological conditions. The selection of species, soil quality, and water availability are key factors that must be carefully managed. 

In some cases, the same landscape may require a blend of both strategies. For example, an area might have remnants of forest that need protection (conservation), along with adjacent deforested regions that are prime candidates for reforestation (restoration) that can connect to remnant forests.  Another example is using restoration activities to address the drivers of deforestation, in these cases implementing agroforestry tree planting designs can reduce deforestation pressures from landcover change and shifting cultivation.  

2. Biodiversity and Native Species: The Cornerstone of Sustainable Carbon Projects 

Projects that fail to consider local ecosystems may end up planting non-native species or monocultures, which compromise biodiversity and ecosystem health over time. 

• Native Species for Restoration: Native species should always be prioritized in restoration project design.  They are more adapted to local conditions, support local wildlife, and have a higher chance of survival without intensive maintenance. Moreover, ecosystems restored with native species tend to be more resilient to pests, diseases, and extreme weather. With mixed project designs restoring with native species, is what allows to connect habitat types and creating landscape connectivity to forests being protected. 

• Biodiversity as a Selling Point: Carbon projects that actively promote biodiversity offer co-benefits, which are a powerful marketing tool in the carbon credit market.  

Conservation projects, in particular, help maintain biodiversity by preventing the loss of species and habitats. By integrating biodiversity into both conservation and restoration efforts, projects can enhance the value and appeal of their projects. 

3. Community Engagement: The Key to Long-Term Success 

Effective and sustainable projects cannot succeed without the support of local communities and/or indigenous peoples who live in and around these ecosystems. Their involvement ensures the project’s longevity and helps avoid conflicts over land use or resource access. 

• Leveraging Traditional Knowledge: Local communities often have deep-rooted knowledge of the land, which can be invaluable for both conservation and restoration. They can guide species selection, point out historically significant areas that need protection, and offer insights into the natural cycles of the ecosystem. Engaging them early in the planning stages fosters cooperation and improves project outcomes. Furthermore, inclusion of local communities ensures that that projects properly identify drivers of deforestation and design project activities to address said drivers.  

• Benefit Sharing: For long-term success, projects must ensure that local communities benefit from the project, either through direct employment, revenue sharing, improved ecosystem services such as clean water, fertile soils, and increased biodiversity. Establishing community forestry programs, hiring community members as rangers, or employing locals in restoration efforts create economic incentives for the local community to protect both newly established forest through ARR and existing forest through REDD. 

4. Adaptive Management and Ongoing Monitoring: A Dynamic Approach 

Carbon projects last for decades and cannot be static—they evolve over time, often in response to environmental changes, changes in local community needs, or unexpected challenges. 

• Monitoring: Using a combination of remote sensing and on-the-ground surveys to track both carbon, community, and biodiversity metrics over time is highly encouraged. Regular monitoring helps to catch early signs of degradation, disease, or deforestation, allowing for timely intervention. Monitoring also ensures that community and biodiversity project goals are achieved.  

• Flexibility: Projects must remain adaptable. Conservation efforts might need to be ramped up if illegal activities intensify, or restoration strategies may need to be adjusted if restoration approaches have high mortality rates.  

5. Achieving Financial Viability: Blended Financing and Carbon Markets 

A successful carbon project needs more than just sound ecological practices; it also needs a solid financial strategy. Restoration projects require a large upfront cost and can take three to five years to issue credits. This generally leads to an increase in payback periods and reduced project IRR and NPVs. 

Crediting from diversified sources can help cover upfront costs of restoration only projects. Credits generated from both conservation and restoration activities provide a revenue stream that helps offset these costs over time. 

• A Strategy to Reduce Early-Stage Financing Needs: REDD credits can be issued from the first year of project while the activites are being implemented and work through the bureaucracy of project development documentation. With this, early volumes of crediting can be used as collateral for delivery of later ARR credits or sold on the market to help fund the upfront restoration efforts.  

• Diversifying Funding Sources and Risk: Relying solely on credits from one project type can be risky if the market takes an unfavorable outlook on the project type. With both restoration and conservation credits, a project has the flexibility to adapt if credit prices plunge for one credit type.  

6. Building Climate Resilience: Carbon Projects for the Future 

Conservation and restoration not only mitigate climate change but also help ecosystems become more resilient to its impacts. Coastal wetland restoration projects, for example, protect shorelines from rising sea levels and storm surges, while reforestation helps prevent landslides and floods in hilly or mountainous areas.  

Conclusion   

Balancing conservation and restoration in carbon projects creates opportunities for robust, scalable climate solutions that deliver co-benefits to ecosystems and communities alike. For projects, integrating these two approaches can result in more marketable and impactful projects, and are often more attractive to investors.  

As the carbon market grows, so too does the demand for projects that not only sequester carbon but also contribute to biodiversity conservation and social well-being. Taking a balanced, holistic approach ensures that projects meet these demands while driving meaningful climate action. 

 

As a technical service provider with expertise in forest carbon project development, we offer comprehensive support in scoping early-stage projects and conducting due diligence for both project developers and investors. Our advanced remote sensing capabilities ensure that potential project areas are thoroughly assessed, providing critical data to inform decision-making and mitigate risks. If you are looking to enhance the viability of your carbon project or need assistance navigating early-stage evaluations, reach out to us at projects@epcarbon.com to learn how we can help.