Rahima Bay Sustainable Wetlands and Mangrove Conservation (RB-SWAM)

Audit Analysis

The Rahima Bay mangrove project has confirmed additionality and a 10% buffer pool, but is undermined by severe quantification inconsistencies, a 42.5% under-delivery against its own ex-ante estimate for the first monitoring period, and over 60 corrective actions flagged by the VVB. Multiple contradictions across documents—including conflicting ERR figures, buffer percentages, and FPIC status—raise serious concerns about data reliability. The project is in its earliest phase with tree biomass still unmeasurable, making current credit claims highly uncertain.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Verified removals (34.4 tCO2e) are only 42.5% of the ex-ante estimate (81 tCO2e) for the first monitoring period, attributed to slow mangrove growth in arid conditions
• ⚠Tree biomass growth was non-measurable during the first verification, limiting assurance to soil organic carbon stocks only
• ⚠Over 60 corrective actions required by the VVB, including missing NDVI data, missing EIA specific to mangrove planting, inconsistent KML/area delineation, and missing data for year 2066
• ⚠Multiple internal contradictions in the validation report: ERR claimed as both 35 and 8.46 tCO2e; buffer pool as both 10% and 0.62%; reversal events as both 'none reported' and 'not addressed'
• ⚠FPIC status contradicted: the PDD states FPIC was conducted while the VVB validation report records it as not conducted

Credit Vintages