Agroforestry and forest restoration for ecological connectivity, poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation in Cerro San Gil, Caribbean Guatemala

Audit Analysis

This VCS agroforestry project in Caribbean Guatemala has a VVB-confirmed additionality assessment and a 12% buffer pool, but is undermined by a reported reversal event (3,693 t CO2e lost to project-area loss), a project-specific baseline, a 0% leakage deduction deemed negligible without strong justification, and a PDD deviation involving an alternative allometric equation. Nine cross-document contradictions and three corrective actions further erode confidence in the data record.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Reversal event reported in the 2022 verification report: an estimated loss of 3,693 t CO2e from the previous verification period due to loss of project area, while the 2016 validation report recorded no reversals.
• ⚠141.68 ha (8.06% of the original project area) was removed from the boundary due to beneficiary ineligibility for the National Forest Incentive Program, constituting a material finding.
• ⚠An alternative allometric equation (Arreaga 2002) was used for large trees, flagged as a Project Description Deviation in the verification report.
• ⚠Leakage deduction of 0% with a 'deemed negligible' justification is questionable for an agroforestry project where displaced biomass or land-use change is a realistic risk.
• ⚠Nine contradictions across documents, including conflicting ERR figures (226,665 vs 253,880) from two verification reports dated four days apart, and conflicting additionality test types (barrier vs combined) between the PDD and validation report.

Credit Vintages