evidoria

← Back to browse

Good practice Imported

Loru Forest Project — Serakar Clan Community Carbon, Espiritu Santo (Vanuatu)

Vanuatu · Espiritu Santo · See the Vanuatu profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 81% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 2013 the Indigenous Serakar Clan has directly held and managed carbon rights over 293 hectares of Espiritu Santo rainforest in Vanuatu, generating Plan Vivo-verified credits and winning the UN's 2019 Equator Prize, though reported figures vary across sources.

293 ha
Coastal rainforest protected (since 2013)
~26,500 to >44,000 tCO2e
Verified emission reductions (range across reporting vintages) (cumulative, unreconciled across sources)
~50 to 130 individuals
Reported beneficiaries (cumulative)
Loru Forest Project — Serakar Clan Community Carbon, Espiritu Santo (Vanuatu)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Serakar Clan / Nakau Programme / Live & Learn Environmental Education Vanuatu
Period
2013-present
Keywords
community forest carbon, indigenous land rights, Plan Vivo certification, Pacific PES, rainforest conservation

Context

The Loru Forest Project, established in 2013 on the north-eastern coast of Espiritu Santo island in Vanuatu, is the flagship initiative of the Nakau Programme, the Pacific region's first payments-for-ecosystem-services scheme, developed with implementation partner Live & Learn Environmental Education Vanuatu. The Serakar Clan, the customary landowners, legally hold and manage the carbon rights themselves rather than ceding them to an external intermediary, keeping control and revenue with the community.

Results

The clan protects 293 hectares of coastal rainforest from conversion to pasture and copra production, providing habitat for threatened species including the Vanuatu megapode and coconut crab. Verified emission reductions are registered on the IHS Markit Environmental Registry; carbon retailers reselling its credits report figures ranging from roughly 26,500 to over 44,000 tCO2e depending on the reporting vintage, a discrepancy that has not been reconciled in public sources. Community income includes direct forest-protection payments plus revenue from a native tree nursery and garden produce. Loru's community-ownership model won the United Nations' 2019 Equator Prize and was the subject of an independent 2020 master's thesis at Victoria University of Wellington examining its social and economic impacts on Indigenous landowners.

Conclusions

Reported beneficiary numbers vary across sources, from around 50 individuals in five extended families to 130 individuals; this range, rather than a single figure, is the honest state of public documentation.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k) — No specific project budget or cost figures were found in the sources reviewed.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Running continuously since 2013 (12+ years); the UN Equator Prize was awarded in 2019.
Staffing & skills
Serakar Clan - customary landowners holding and managing carbon rights directly, Nakau Programme - PES scheme developer, Live & Learn Environmental Education Vanuatu - implementation partner

Conditions for success

  • The Indigenous Serakar Clan directly holds and manages carbon rights rather than ceding them to an external intermediary, keeping control and revenue with the community - a distinguishing governance feature within the Plan Vivo family
  • Diversified community income (forest-protection payments plus a native tree nursery plus garden produce) beyond carbon payments alone
  • Independent academic scrutiny (a 2020 Victoria University of Wellington thesis) and UN recognition (the 2019 Equator Prize) lending external credibility

Common failure modes

  • Verified emission-reduction totals reported by different carbon retailers range from roughly 26,500 to over 44,000 tCO2e, an unreconciled discrepancy that has not been resolved in public sources
  • Reported beneficiary numbers vary widely (50 to 130 individuals) across sources, indicating weak standardisation of impact reporting even for a well-recognised project

Where it fits

Governance type
Indigenous clan-held carbon rights under the Plan Vivo standard
Scale
single community forest, 293 ha
Income level
lower-middle income (Vanuatu, small island developing state)

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

Do you run this practice? Claim it — verified implementers get a public contact pathway and can propose corrections.

Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

Similar practices you may find useful