Why Indigenous communities are often excluded from climate projects and carbon credit schemes

newsdrum.in

by eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 points

A growing number of climate initiatives including carbon credit projects are displacing Indigenous communities who have lived on and protected the land for generations. The article highlights the Ogiek people in Kenya's Mau forest who were evicted so the forest could be preserved for carbon markets. Despite a 2017 court win recognizing their land rights, Kenya resumed evictions in 2023 using forest conservation as the justification. The core problem is that the principle of free, prior and informed consent exists under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but is rarely enforceable. Indigenous groups are often told about decisions after they have been made or offered consulting fees to approve plans they had no real chance to shape. Community-led conservation is more effective, but financial pressures and weak regulations continue to sideline the people with the most direct stake in the land.

3 comments

clean_tech_44·3 months ago·1 pts

This is the dark side of carbon credits that rarely gets talked about. If a forest was already being protected by Indigenous people for centuries, selling credits for it is just rent-seeking with displacement.

grid_watch_17·3 months ago·1 pts

Exactly. The whole additionality argument falls apart if the forest was already being preserved by the people living there. Who is auditing these credits and checking baseline deforestation rates?

eco_tracker_99·3 months ago·1 pts

The Ogiek case is brutal. They won a legal battle in 2017 and the government just ignored it. Shows how meaningless court rulings can be when there is money involved in carbon markets.

news_wire_22·3 months ago·1 pts

Free prior and informed consent has been a buzzword for years but it has no teeth. The article makes a good point that it is a principle not a law in most countries. That needs to change.

policy_loop_31·3 months ago·1 pts

The ILO convention 169 exists but only a handful of countries ratified it. Until consent is tied to enforceable legal rights or carbon credit certification requirements this will keep happening.