The Associated Press reported that the Indigenous community in Liberia's livelihood is being threatened in a deal whereby land was sold off to the UAE, and they are trying to prevent losing it. 

In the past year, the Liberian government has agreed to sell about 10% of its land, equivalent to 10,931 square kilometers (4,220 square miles) to Dubai-based company Blue Carbon to preserve forests that are the main livelihood for many communities, as they are usually logged and used for farming.

The company is going to profit from this land by selling carbon credits to polluters so they can offset their emissions while they burn fossil fuels. Some experts believe that this has some climate benefits. 

However, activists describe it as "carbon colonialism" and stress that Liberian law acknowledges Indigenous land ownership, highlighting that the government has no legal right over the land.

Blue Carbon did not reply to repeated emails and calls seeking comment from AP.

No legal framework

AP said that in March 2023, months following Blue Carbon's launch, it reached a deal with the government without consulting local communities, which are worried about a lack of protections.

“There is no legal framework on carbon credits in Liberia, and so we don’t have rules and regulations to fight for ourselves as a community,” Matthew Walley emphasized, whose community, Neezuin, could lose about 573 square kilometers to Blue Carbon.

According to activists and communities, even though the government in Liberia must get prior, informed consent from communities before using their land for such deals, former President George Weah's government proceeded without getting this consent. 

The communities only found out about this agreement after activists took action against it following a leak through a network of nongovernmental organizations, AP said.

Locals and activists also revealed that talks with communities did not take place even after the agreement said that they would happen last November.

Weah's government stopped the deal last year before the presidential vote as a result of protests from communities and activists, however, he did not win the elections.

The community leader, Walley, said, “We resolved to vote the George Weah government out to stop the deal, which will devastatingly affect communities, but we don’t know if the new government will restart it,” stressing, “We are waiting for them.”

A Liberian activist who aided in triggering the opposition to the Blue Carbon deal, Ambulah Mamey, said “There is no opposition to fighting climate change, but it has to be done in a way that respects people’s rights and does not breach the law."

Dubia could own large swathes of land in Africa

The Dubai-based company could possibly hold power over large swaths of land in Africa as a result of raft agreements with at least five African countries. 

According to Blue Carbon's website, it has only one project under development in Zimbabwe, including approximately 20% of its land. 

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However, through opaque agreements, since forming in late 2022, the company has potentially landed staggering amounts of land across other countries, including Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania, and Zambia.

As revealed by rights groups such as Amnesty International and Survival International, Indigenous populations in Kenya already have been kicked out to make way for other carbon credit projects.

These groups have described the projects as “culturally destructive," lacking transparency, and threatening the livelihoods and food security of rural African populations, AP added.

An independent researcher of conservation projects in Kenya, Congo, Cameroon, and other countries and former director of Rainforest Foundation UK, a nonprofit that supports both human rights and environmental protection, Simon Counsell said, “Many such projects are associated with appalling human rights abuses against local communities at the hands of park rangers."

“The majority had involved evictions, most were involved in conflict with local people, and almost none had ever sought or gained the landholders’ consent,” Counsell added. 

Why is this happening?

Even though Africa is the least involved in greenhouse gas emissions, its various natural resources, like forests, are vital for battling climate change, AP said. These forests are traditionally the main livelihood for the indigenous populations which sheds light on tensions between climate goals and economic realities, AP added. 

African governments in need of money have their eyes out on such initiatives, as they help them make money regardless of concerns of human rights abuses and transparency, AP elaborated.

On pause 

The new director of Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency, Emmanuel Yarkpawolo, revealed that the Blue Carbon deal was rushed through "a quick process that does not lend itself to a good level of transparency."

He also added that the deal is currently paused, as Liberia is now developing rules for selling carbon credits, which will “emphasize the balance between environmental goals and economic well-being of our people and take care of concerns about Indigenous people's rights, including alternative livelihood means."

In March, Blue Carbon sent out invitations to developers, requesting proposals for carbon offset projects.

Activists provided the Associated Press with the company document, which does not specify which countries it is aiming for, just that basic land information will be provided to the applicants.

Counsell labeled this process as “extraordinarily opaque,” considering it entails a significant amount of some countries’ land. He further questioned whether governments understand the implications, let alone the people living in those areas.

"They are precisely the kind of opaque and inequitable arrangements that the U.N. should very specifically be guarding against as it continues to develop the rules for a global carbon market," Counsell stressed in an email.

Meet Blue Carbon

Blue Carbon was founded by Emirati royal Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, whose private holdings include fossil fuel operations.

It has not revealed the governments or companies that will buy the credits generated from its carbon projects.

Not really beneficial 

One concern of carbon offsetting is the concept of "additionality", or the amount of carbon that a project claims it decreases by preventing deforestation as in many cases, it is likely that those reductions could have taken place anyway, AP said. 

A study by Counsell and Survival International on one carbon credit initiative, called the Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project, announced that livestock farmers whose livelihoods were overturned by the project had worked within “broadly sustainable limits.”

Walley said that this is similar to the practice of communities in Liberia, where they must conserve forests under government rules and 40% of Liberia’s forestland is already shielded.

"This means that the project, in climate terms, has no 'additionality', and any carbon credits generated do not represent genuine new savings of carbon," Counsell also said.

With time, trees release the carbon they are keeping back into the atmosphere through natural aging, forest fires, or commercial use, which belittles the idea of forests absorbing carbon permanently, Counsell added.

AP added that there is also the issue of a “zero” benefit to the climate as protecting forests in one area may lead to deforestation elsewhere as communities affected by conservation projects move to earn a living.