Carbon Credits Consulting Leverages OroraTech Wildfire Solution for Early Fire Detection and Better Decision-Making
- December 12, 2022
- 10:00 AM
Carbon Credits Consulting, the first Italian-based company that develops certified carbon offset projects, has teamed up with OroraTech to protect their valuable forests in Argentina. As a result, Carbon Credits Consulting has improved its resource allocation, decision-making process, and early fire detection capability.
What Is the Carbon Market?
For some people, carbon credit is a new term. For others, it is part of a well-known solution to the climate crisis. A credit represents one tonne of carbon dioxide removed or reduced from the atmosphere through the development of carbon offset projects. Carbon credits can be purchased by individuals or, more commonly, by companies as part of their corporate strategies to become carbon neutral and/or pursue net-zero emissions goals.
Carbon credits and carbon markets are components of global attempts to mitigate the growth in concentrations of greenhouse gases. “We are part of a relatively new ecosystem—the voluntary carbon market. The market is driven by companies that take the climate challenge seriously and decide to adopt sustainability strategies that immediately contribute to limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5C by offsetting their emissions with high-quality carbon credits, in parallel with reducing their carbon footprint,” explains Mónica Razo Cervantes, Green Marketing & Communication manager from Carbon Credits Consulting.
"The difference between having OroraTech and not having OroraTech is significant. The data gathered helps us further discuss fire management approaches with the local authorities and put more pressure on this vital topic."
“Our main customers are multinational companies, mainly from the fashion industry, since there are high expectations from the end customer to follow sustainable practices. Our goal is to guide any company, regardless of the sector. Now that the IPCC has recognized that carbon removal is fundamental to addressing climate change, it is time to act,” shares Cervantes.
Carbon Credits Consulting offers full control over the value chain, starting with identifying potential projects to fight climate change, working on their design, validation, and verification under internationally recognized standards, and going all the way to selling the carbon credits generated to end users.
“There are different types of carbon credits. Depending on their methodology, they can be classified into removals, as reforestation projects, or avoidance, as protection of native forests (REDD+),” says Cervantes. “I believe it is important to choose projects with added value where more parties are positively affected by our activities, such as forest protection, which positively impacts biodiversity and local communities.”
Yungas Mountain Region – Home of Jaguars
The project, developed by Carbon Credits Consulting and executed by Rodriguez Nocetti SRL, aims to protect an area of nearly 50,000 hectares of native forest in the Southern Yungas region in northern Argentina and is vital for two main reasons:
- The Yungas represent one of Argentina’s most biodiverse natural systems, home to nearly 50% of the country’s biodiversity.
- The region is experiencing an alarming rate of deforestation, exceeding 1% per year. Now it’s threatened by the constant illegal logging and fires that occur more frequently every year.
The project represents the first step in establishing a precious biological corridor between the Calilegua National Parkland and the Baritu National Park, guaranteeing the survival of threatened species, including the Jaguar, the Puma, the Tapir, the Giant Anteater, and numerous species of birds, reptiles, and amphibians.
Current Challenges Protecting the Yungas Mountain Region
“Most fires are caused by human activities, especially widespread waste burning. Unfortunately, local communities around the Yungas Mountain region currently do not have good access to waste management. To avoid diseases, it’s all burned near the forests, increasing the risk of forest fires,” explains Mariano Beltrán, Agronomist and Selva Urundel REDD+ Project Coordinator.
Before engaging OroraTech remote sensing technology, forests were monitored using direct smoke spotting for fire outbreak detection; horseback riding through the territory; and active community engagement. However, each of these approaches had a downside: late fire detection; large territory for a few scouts; and delays in the warning and alert system.
“We were looking for an early fire detection system for large forest areas. It was important that the solution did not need an internet connection in the forest and equipment installation such as on-ground cameras; hence, remote sensing with OroraTech was a great match,” explains Mariano.
Better Decision-Making via Earth Observation
“We have been working with OroraTech for a year and are already seeing the first results,” shares Mariano. “It has improved our decision-making in three aspects: logistics and resource allocation; the better speed of response to fire outbreaks; much earlier fire detection, hence saving us precious time.”
According to Carbon Credit Consulting, the most beneficial features of OroraTech’s Wildfire Solution are alerts of new fire outbreaks and the possibility of seeing the correlation with weather information. Equally crucial for holistic fire management are the topographical data, fuels available in the area, heat maps, and records of past fires.
“The difference between having OroraTech and not having OroraTech is significant. The data gathered helps us further discuss fire management approaches with the local authorities and put more pressure on this vital topic, ” concludes Mariano Beltrán.
