Monitoring Carbon Stocks on Smallholder Farms Using Information and Communications Technologies: Evaluating the Potential for Central Africa

Abstract

SUMMARYRural land users in central Africa foresee numerous governance problems participating in centralized incentive programs to reward carbon storage on their farms. This has created a need to grow individualized means of monitoring changes in carbon stocks on smallholder farms using information and communications technologies -ICTs. The potentials of an ICT innovation -the Community-Based Biomass Assessment and Monitoring System or CB-BAMS is evaluated.CB-BAMS is a cloud-based automated database system built around an SMS platform for sending and receiving SMS text messages. Data collected through the SMS system is integrated with a web-based application -Force.com, which holds a relational database. The SMS system is in two parts; the first Application Options for farmer data entry via SMS and or EXCEL.CSV upload were successful. Data entry via farmer SMS can however contain minor typographic and syntax errors. Estimates of emissions [tC02/ha] combining secondary data in Force.com, data via SMS or by upload were computed seamlessly in Force.com. The Telerivet platform also worked well as SMS relay and as backup to Force.com for farmer SMS data. Farmers demonstrated very quick mastery of SMS syntax as well as high levels of enthusiasm with the innovation. ICTs hold great promise in improving governance in land use by eliminating human intermediaries.

Digital platforms for development: Foundations and research agenda

“…Another salient finding that emerged from the review was the fact that NGOs, development agencies or governments were the driving forces of several platforms instead of business (Mbile et al, 2015;Wenner et al, 2018).…”

“…This may not be surprising, given the fact that the platforms surveyed in the literature frequently have developmental goals that were beyond making profit (i.e., better access to health). These goals are normally linked to the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), governments or international organisations, rather than business (Mbile et al, 2015;Wenner et al, 2018). Similarly, the criticism put forward towards the economic view of transaction platforms is especially valid in relation to the ICT4D literature.…”

“…Finally, a number of the publications we reviewed concentrated on platforms that were still in a nascent or idea stage without being fully developed (e.g., Mbile et al, 2015;Schreieck et al, 2017). This meant that typical platform challenges, such as how to solve the chicken and egg problem, were not yet approached.…”

“…The papers highlighted the importance of developing and managing the platform in inclusive ways to account for the participation of otherwise marginalised groups. Example of these include those platforms sharing market information to farmers (e.g., Arinloye et al, 2015), or those monitoring changes in carbon stocks on smallholder farms who otherwise would face numerous governance problems when participating in centralised incentive programs to reward carbon storage (Mbile et al, 2015).…”