Carbon and credits
Leakage
Leakage is emissions a project pushes elsewhere rather than prevents. Protect one forest and the felling moves to the next valley. The atmosphere does not recognise project boundaries, so leakage has to be estimated and deducted.
It is accounted for by deducting an estimated share of the claimed benefit. The estimate is difficult, because the displaced activity sits outside the area being monitored.
Restoring land that is degraded and unproductive has less leakage exposure than protecting land that somebody currently wants to use, because there is less activity to displace.