The forest-carbon development project in Quiri no covers the fragmented open forest patches within the Quirino Protected Landscape, which forms part of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor. This project is part of Conservation International Philippines (CI Philippines) effort in building alliances with lo cal communities, the private sector, government agencies and NGOs to improve the management of the Sierra Madre Biodiversity Corridor and strengthen the enforcement of environmental laws. Acting as the project proponent and intermediary , CI Philippines can potentially institutionalise the project. Not only is such a purpose part of their mission as a non-government organization but also they have the technical capacity to do so. The project is to be implemented as community-based forest management, involv ing local communities (represented by three people’s organizations) made up of 96 indivi dual and household landholders, Palacian Economic Development Association Inc (a local NGO), the provincial government, Department of Environment and Natural Res ources Region 2 and the Municipal Environment and Natural Resources Office and the project mon itoring team of CI Philippines. MoreTrees, a non-profit carbon offset provider, funds the project. A total of 177 ha, consisting of small landholdings (110 parcels) in five barangays within the municipalities of Maddela (94 ha) and Nagt ipunan (83 ha), has been delineated as the project area. The 108 parcels are within classifi ed forestlands (162 ha) and most landholders have certificate of stewardship contracts as thei r tenure instruments; there are only two parcels of private land (15 ha) with ownership titles. The project deploys an agroforestation scheme, conducting reforestation activities by planting native tree species on a total of 155 ha and an ag roforestry system by planting fruit trees on 22 ha. Just like other project proponents, CI Philippines also attempted to participate under the Clean Development Mechanism afforestation/refor estation (CDM A/R) framework. It initially drafted a plan for 13 000 ha as a CDM A/R project but is now targeting the Verified Carbon Standards. Validation by a third party has al ready been conducted under the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards after some corrective action, including revision of the project design document and subsequent revalidation.