AVALIAÇÃO DE ÁREAS ELEGÍVEIS À IMPLANTAÇÃO DE PROJETOS DE MDL FLORESTAIS NA BACIA DO RIO PARDO, EM MINAS GERAIS

Forests are key to climate regulation. Based on this principle, an instrument was proposed in Kyoto, Japan – the Clean Development Mechanism – CDM – through which developed countries can meet their emission reduction goals by forestry projects financing in developing countries. For this, the starting point is to assess the CO2 sequestration potential. In this sense, the objective of the present work was to evaluate the CO2 sequestration potential and carbon credits generation through forestry CDM projects in the Pardo river basin, Minas Gerais state. The methodology consisted of mapping the eligible and suitable areas for projects implementation, through orbital images multitemporal analysis, and the simulation of forest restoration and reforestation scenarios with eucalyptus species. For forest restoration projects, the CO2 sequestration potential is about 10,215,818 t, in 20 years, which could generate more than US $ 102 million in carbon credits. For reforestation, the CO2 sequestration potential is about 12 million tons in six years, and would generate about US $ 120 million. A mixed scenario, with projects in both modalities, was considered ideal for the basin.