Kenya's Ogiek people being evicted for carbon credits - lawyers
Ogiek leader Daniel Kobei said armed forest rangers were “pulling down the houses with axes and hammers”.
Kenya’s government says such operations are to protect the environment.
Dr Justin Kenrick from the Forest People’s Programme said that carbon credits and offsetting were “key” to what was happening.
The developing global carbon credit market allows a polluter to emit carbon dioxide or other climate-heating gas and pay a forest owner to capture those emissions through the carbon-absorption power of their trees.
Dr Kenrick argues that by evicting the Ogiek, Kenya’s government is trying to cement its full territorial - and financial - control over an increasingly lucrative asset.
“Those in control of Africa’s forests stand to earn a lot of money,” he said.
