Communities in Kenya fight carbon project that sold credits to Meta, Netflix

The Scoop

NAIROBI — Members of Kenya’s Maasai pastoralist community are clashing with managers of a major carbon project, raising new concerns that international demand for carbon credits generated in Africa could have damaging consequences for local communities.

The Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project (NKRCP), which describes itself as the world’s largest soil carbon removal project, has sold carbon credits to corporations including Meta, Netflix and UK bank NatWest. It restores and maintains grasslands to absorb carbon, including by managing grazing patterns of livestock herds on the 4.7 million acres it covers. Absorbing carbon allows it to generate carbon credits which can be purchased by corporations to compensate for their greenhouse gas emissions.

The project, however, continues to face significant opposition from many members of affected local communities, who say it is disrupting their ways of life and denying them access to their ancestral land. Many also say it puts women at risk due to harsh work conditions in some areas.

Community activists working in Baringo, Narok and Kajiado counties in Kenya, where the project operates, told Semafor Africa that NKRCP had failed to undertake proper public participation or educate local communities, leading to complaints from members of affected communities and resistance to the project’s efforts to fence off land in some areas. They claimed that the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT), which runs the project, has failed to gain the informed consent of affected communities for the carbon project as is legally required, despite the NRT’s insistence that it has letters of consent.

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Erin, a community activist working in Narok and Kajiado whose name has been changed to protect her identity, said that many households of the Maasai were grappling with disruptions to grazing practices as well as access to ancestral land due to the project, with several households opposing efforts by the project to fence off land for the project.

“They will fence it (ancestral land) and tell you you’re trespassing,” she said. “We have our own traditional way of herding and grazing patterns. They need to respect indigenous knowledge.”

Erin also claimed that the Maasai women workers recruited by NRT for its grassland regeneration program lacked protective gear. The program, which counts towards the project’s stated impact on local jobs and livelihoods, sees women from local communities hired to grow grass across huge tracts of land to regenerate degraded rangelands for 500 Kenyan shillings ($3.70) per day. The process often involves the uprooting of invasive species such as opuntia (prickly pear cactus).

The project, which was rebranded to Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project, operates in 14 community conservancies in the country. Part of the proceeds from the sale of carbon credits are channeled back to the conservancies and various community projects such as schools and health facilities.

NRT was yet to respond to queries from Semafor Africa by the time of publication.

Martin’s view

While carbon offsetting projects can offer an economic opportunity, local communities need to understand them and their impact on their everyday lives before they can enter into legally binding contracts. The perspectives and concerns of local communities who are most affected by these projects should be factored in at every stage. Otherwise, the global rush to capitalize on carbon credits will be more disruptive and controversial than beneficial for the people who live in these areas.

Observing that three quarters of carbon offsets in 2022 took place in developing countries, Amos Wemanya, senior advisor at environmental nonprofit Power Shift Africa told Semafor Africa that growing demand for carbon credits was bound to cause conflicts over land use.

These concerns are already evident elsewhere in Kenya. The country’s Ogiek community faced eviction from the Mau forest last year, which their lawyers claimed was linked to the government’s push to capitalize on carbon projects. Wemanya said African countries could lose control of large swaths of land as foreign corporations rush to snap up carbon credits to make up for their emissions. He suggested alternative solutions for climate finance on the continent.

“Given Africa’s negligible contribution to the climate crisis, Africa should receive grant-based funding from the countries and companies that have driven the crisis. Grants are required to avoid increasing indebtedness already arising from an unjust international financial system,” he argued.

Room for Disagreement

The project results in increased pasture and forage for herders’ animals, according to the NKRCP which says it raises incomes for pastoralist households whose cattle then fetch higher market prices. Fourteen community conservancies participating in the NKRCP have also earned a total of 1.7 billion Kenyan shillings ($12.6 million) over the last three years from the sale of carbon credits, according to the Northern Kenya Trust (NRT).

Each of the 14 participating conservancies received $324,000 in 2022 and 2023. NKRCP also cites the construction of schools and boreholes among other social impact projects in communities where it operates.