MVP was founded by the Mamoní 100 Club and Fundacion Geoversity and its funding comes mainly from philanthropy.
Mamoni 100 Club:
Mamoni 100 are a group of civic-minded entrepreneurs and philanthropists who have purchased most of the land and donated most of MVP’s revenue.
Using the same methodology used for determining REDD+ credits (but without verification), it is estimated that MVP and its partners have accumulated carbon offsets of between 300 thousand and 600 thousand tons of CO2. They expect to accumulate another 1.2 million to 1.6 million tons within their current landholdings. As a result, MVP has created an initiated the commercialization of Corporate Carbon Offset Partnerships.
Corporate Carbon Offset Partnerships:
Corporate Carbon Offset Partnerships provide corporations with their mini-reserve within the Valley and the voluntary carbon offsets that accompany their preserve. This package is particularly attractive for organizations that appreciate the importance of biodiversity in this critical migration corridor. The visiting rights to their preserve, the associated marketing value, and the carbon offsets that accompany the partnership.
The package includes offsets of already avoided deforestation (MVP and its partners have prevented over 650,000 tons of CO2 emissions from deforestation), offsets from the continued primary forest and old-growth secondary forest preservation (link to Redlands online map), offsets from reforestation with bamboo (link to map with existing bamboo plantations), and offsets from non-carbon benefits (the MVP is the only opportunity for this flexible offset method in the World, backed by the UNFCCC (link to document explaining what non-carbon benefits are).
By enrolling, the partner will:
- Receive assistance in calculating its carbon footprint
- Move toward carbon neutrality by offsetting CO2 emissions
- Be able to observe and share online imagery of its corporate preserve
- Receive each year an annual offset certificate and visually attractive maps (digital satellite and drone imagery)
- Be able to visit the preserve, staying at discounted rates at the nearby science and leadership training center within the Mamoní Valley Preserve.
- Support the MVP vision and the Geoversity School for Biocultural Leadership
- Be provided with outstanding conservation stories from local communities and the preserve.
- Contribute to global climate change mitigation
- Be among the first companies to choose non-carbon benefits for their offset as promoted at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) at the Scottish Event Campus in Glasgow on 1 – 12 November 2021.
- Receive an annual overall offset investment- and result report, including a direct positive effect map (starting Jan 2022).
Non-carbon Benefits:
At this moment, the Mamoní Valley represents the only option in the world for offsetting via non-carbon benefits. Using the Mamoní Valley Preserve as a pilot project, Fundación Geoversity was chosen by the European Union’s EUROCLIMA+ program to define how this UNFCCC Global Climate Change mechanism can be successful.
Non-carbon benefit projects can be understood as 1) activities that make traditional carbon sequestration projects sustainable by creating local ownership and incentives or 2) activities that produce a direct positive climate change impact. Whichever of these two approaches, the non-carbon project must, by its definition, create socio-economic, environmental, biocultural, or governance benefits and a positive global climate effect.
For instance, a solar company can choose to offset its carbon footprint by installing photovoltaic systems in communities (if it replaces fuel generators), whereby the company obtains an additional promotional benefit from its compensation. Read more about the concept.