In the recent years, and with focus on the ongoing COP28 in Dubai, the global focus for environmental conservation and sustainability has rapidly grown through different initiatives. Carbon offsetting programs have gained momentum as the most ideal solution. In Africa, there are many carbon offsetting programs being implemented with the big question being whether these programs are all about greening up the continent for carbon sinking process or they are an insidious form of environmental imperialism.
Africa Climate Change Summit 2023 (Photo Credits).
The carbon offsetting programs simply refer to a way of balancing the environmental harm through investing in projects that aim at reducing or capturing the greenhouse gas emissions. The working concept of this process is simple; individuals, corporations or nations can purchase carbon credits to compensate for their own carbon footprint. In return, these credits are then invested in projects, mostly renewable energy or reforestation, with the main aim of mitigating the environmental impact.
Africa has emerged as the focal point for carbon offsetting projects. There are numerous reforestation and renewable energy projects. The continent has become an ideal canvas for those seeking to assuage the guilt of their carbon emissions. When a closer inspection and analysis is done on this trend, a very complex reality can be seen. Whereas “Greenism” refers to a commitment for environmental stewardship, “Imperialism” on the other side is a suggestion for a dominance that is masked by good intentions. Within the context of carbon offsetting in Africa, there is a blurred line between these two concepts. From where I seat and analyse, carbon offsetting initiatives seems to be driven by a desire by the Western world to alleviate their guilt for environmental pollution and most probably, dominate again the continent after many years of failed colonisation.
What aspects of colonisation should the continent be worried about? One major concern that is causing panic among the Pan-Africanists and African scholars is the lack of local input and control in the projects. The main decisions in the carbon offsetting initiatives are made by external entities with little or no considerations to the affected communities. This begs the question of whether such initiatives are genuinely focused on Africa’s sustainable development or they aim at perpetuating a neocolonial dynamic whereby the global north dictates the happenings in the global south?
Second, majority of the carbon offsetting projects in Africa, with specific analysis to Kenya’s projects, are effective in reinforcing the ever-existing power imbalances in the continent. Look at how the land meant for these projects is acquired; the Ogiek Community in Kenya being forcefully evicted from their ancestral habitats to the public scandalously losing millions of hectares of land to foreign entities. A further look at the technology being deployed reveals a replication of historical patterns of exploitation. This is a suggestion that the push for carbon offsetting and credits market is a likely new kind of environmental imperialism. Thirdly, and the most important point, the financial benefits of these projects, knowing Africa well, often bypass the local communities to the pockets of a few corrupt and puppetry politicians. This leave these communities in the rough side of the economy; their lands forcefully taken means hopelessness for them because in Africa, agriculture is the heart.
What about the reforestation paradox? Large-scale reforestation is one of the most common carbon offsetting methods. While it is scientifically commendable to increase tree cover, the methods that are being used and the outcomes of these projects in Africa are very questionable. First, nearly all the ongoing reforestation efforts for carbon offsetting are using mono-culture plantations. This means that Africa’s diverse ecosystem will be replaced in the near future. It also implies that the local biodiversity is lost and Indigenous communities such as the Ogiek in Kenya are displaced. What other better word to describe this apart from environmental imperialism?
To sum up, as the world grapples with the urgency to address the climate change crisis, it makes more sense to critically examine the methods used to pursue environmental solutions. Most of the carbon offsetting programs in Africa demand thorough scrutiny to ensure they do not push the continent to the pathetic, suffering old days. The imperialistic undertones of the offsetting programs should be brought to light by the leaders in the continent and eliminated before public eyes, I won’t be surprised to learn that it is the same leaders that are using their protruding greedy bellies to install these neocolonial dynamics.
To make this genuine and goal-oriented, the carbon offsetting projects in Africa have to prioritise collaboration, local community empowerment and respect the autonomy of those impacted. Anything less than this should be condemned because there is nothing good in it apart from environmental imperialism.
(This article was written by Tuti Danis Odongo who is a Kenyan writer and the author of 'The Season of Vipers.')
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