The fight against climate change has become a global priority, and carbon credits have emerged as a tool to incentivize businesses to reduce their carbon footprint. However, the implementation of these credits must not come at the cost of exploiting Indigenous Peoples’ traditional territories and ancestral lands. For too long, Indigenous communities have been left out of the conversation surrounding carbon credit regulations, despite being among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. As such, it is crucial that rule-makers bring Indigenous People to the table and involve them in the decision-making process for carbon credit schemes. In this article, we explore why their engagement is vital for ensuring a fair and equitable implementation of carbon credits.
Indigenous peoples worldwide have long preserved the planet’s tropical rainforests, which are essential to the survival of the entire planet. Sixty million indigenous people depend on forests for their livelihoods, with the majority reliant on forests in the Amazon Basin and Mesoamerica, where they manage 30% and 50% of forested territories, respectively.
Despite this long history of forest preservation, Indigenous peoples are often excluded from decision-making regarding conservation efforts. This is especially true regarding the development of high-quality carbon credits, which are crucial for halting deforestation and mitigating climate change. The recently formed Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (IC-VCM), responsible for developing new criteria for high-quality carbon credits known as Core Carbon Principles (CCP), is a case in point.
Unfortunately, Indigenous Peoples and local communities have not been adequately consulted on the CCP. The Integrity Council’s process to define carbon credit “integrity” did not include input from Indigenous Peoples and local communities, which directly affects our communities, livelihoods, and our ability to conserve our rainforests. Moreover, consultation with Indigenous peoples and local communities has been very limited to only one webinar and one lunch meeting at Cop27 in Egypt.
One crucial issue for our communities that we have not been able to weigh in on is the treatment of high-integrity jurisdictional REDD+ crediting in the Integrity Council’s guidance. Jurisdictional REDD+ credits incentivize large-area forest conservation across Indigenous territories, states, and whole countries. These credits have the potential to unlock significant finance needed to support our work to safeguard forests, but we have not been consulted regarding their usage.
HFLD territories (an abbreviation for High Forest Low Deforestation) are often under Indigenous control and provide essential opportunities for carbon market financing. Given the increasing vulnerability of HFLD territories worldwide, Indigenous Peoples are the best suited to defend these territories. Unfortunately, the Integrity Council has excluded jurisdictional REDD+ credits, HFLD territories, and Indigenous wisdom from carbon markets.
The Integrity Council’s Core Carbon Principles must consult Indigenous Peoples and local communities and include jurisdictional REDD+ programs to produce high-quality carbon credits that accord with our perspectives and priorities. The Tropical Forest Credit Integrity guide, published by Indigenous Peoples organizations and environmental groups last month, offers guidance on the production of high-integrity credits that have the greatest forest conservation impact and respect the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples.
The inclusion of Indigenous peoples and Local Communities in the development process is critical to the efficacy of the Integrity Council’s Core Carbon Principles. We must be represented in governing bodies and spaces like the IC-VCM board to provide real, legitimate representation and contribute to the design and oversight of both the market and individual projects. We also need effective channels to address grievances.
In conclusion, the Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s exclusion of Indigenous Peoples and local communities from the development of its Core Carbon Principles is unacceptable. The Indigenous peoples’ perspectives and priorities are essential to creating high-quality carbon credits that accord with the principles of the voluntary carbon market. Therefore, it is critical that Indigenous peoples are included in decision-making processes regarding carbon credits to preserve the planet’s tropical rainforests and mitigate climate change.
