Melania Chiponda: Carbon credits, extractivism, and fossil fuels betray indigenous communities

Dr Melania Chiponda, executive director of Shine Collab, writes from COP31 in Antalya that carbon credit projects, mineral extraction for renewable energy, and continued fossil fuel use form a connected threat to indigenous peoples. She cites Maasai pastoralists in Tanzania facing restrictions on grazing routes and the Vatombe community in Zimbabwe being pressured to give up land for green economy projects. The piece argues that these pressures are not implementation flaws but signs that nature is being treated as a commodity and indigenous territories as empty space for monetization. Chiponda calls for climate finance to shift away from speculative offsetting toward predictable, grant-based support for community-led conservation. She stresses that genuine emissions cuts at the source must come first, and that governments must protect customary land tenure and uphold free, prior and informed consent. The article frames carbon markets as risky when they let polluters delay action while stripping communities of decision-making power.