Yunnan Kunming Liangqu Improved Forest Management Project

Audit Analysis

This VCS Improved Forest Management project in Yunnan, China, has a verified investment-test additionality and no reported reversal events, but the registry status is On Hold, a corrective action flags a stratum-data inconsistency, and the buffer pool was reduced from 25% to 18% between verification cycles. The monitoring period (2019–2021) falls entirely outside the original crediting period (2011–2016), creating uncertainty about the validity of the ex-ante comparison. Multiple contradictions between the 2016 and 2021/2022 verification reports—particularly on safeguards, FPIC, and leakage treatment—reduce confidence in the project's data reliability.

Project Description

Red Flags

• ⚠Registry status is On Hold per a notification letter, indicating the project is not in good standing
• ⚠Corrective action CAR01: the monitored stratum is inconsistent with the forest second-class investigation data, undermining the reliability of the verified ERR
• ⚠Monitoring period (Apr 2019 – Mar 2021) falls entirely after the stated crediting period (Apr 2011 – Mar 2016), with no documented extension or second crediting period in the extracted record
• ⚠Buffer pool reduced from 25% (2016 verification) to 18% (2021 verification), weakening the permanence safeguard
• ⚠Leakage treatment shifted from 'quantified' in the 2016 validation report to 'deemed negligible' with a 0% deduction in the 2021 verification report, without a clear methodological justification for the change

Credit Vintages