Zimbabwe: Doubts Grow Over Who'll Benefit From UAE Carbon Deal for Fifth of Zimbabwe

Carbon credit projects may make profits for a Dubai-based firm, but experts and locals are sceptical about benefits to communities and the climate.granted a UAE-based firm conservation rights over 7.5 million hectares of its forests - about 20% of the country's landmass. Under the deal, touted to be worth $1.

Scrutiny of carbon credit schemes, however, has brought both sides of this hypothetical win-win into question. For instance, a recentinto Zimbabwe's Kariba mega-project - one of the largest carbon offsetting schemes in the world - found that the company behind it, South Pole, could not be sure that tens of millions of dollars intended for local communities had ever reached them.

Zimbabwe, with 30 active carbon offsetting projects, is already the third largest source of carbon credits in Africa and the 12th largest in the world. Despite these initiatives, its forest cover has continued to deplete at an alarming rate. From 2001 in 2022, the country lost 16% of its tree cover, according toZimbabwe's forest has depleted for numerous reasons, many of them social and economic. In many instances, cutting trees is essential to people's livelihoods.

Given the difficulty of addressing these problems and past policy failures, many sellers in the industries that rely on clearing trees seem unfazed by Zimbabwe's new deal with the UAE company. Forestry Commission spokesperson Violet Makoto reiterates the difficulties of combatting deforestation and emphasises that there is no silver bullet.

Source: Loan Digest (loandigest.net)

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