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Drawing on experience responding to carbon projects in more than 20 countries, members of the Grassroots Justice Network identified six principles necessary to make carbon projects fair. As Elijah Lempaira of Impact Kenya notes, “Without access to information, fair benefit sharing and genuine participation from local communities, justice is lost.” 

Verra’s updated standard reflects input from Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network, an alliance of justice groups from 180 countries. The new rules address common challenges in carbon projects and give communities greater power. Specifically:

• All land-based projects must obtain the free, prior, informed consent of affected communities. Developers and communities need to agree on a legally binding contract—this gives communities an opportunity to set the terms under which a project can move forward. 
• Project developers must share financial information with communities, including the total revenue received from carbon credit sales. 
• Project developers must share a portion of revenue with local communities for any projects on community land. 

“Today’s changes are a major step towards carbon justice,” said Namati CEO Vivek Maru.

Many communities want to pursue carbon projects if the terms are fair. For example, in October 2025, with legal support from Namati, more than 220 communities in Sittia Chiefdom, Sierra Leone signed a carbon agreement guided by the same carbon justice principles that shaped recommendations to Verra. That new agreement protects 79,000 hectares of mangrove forests (four times the size of Washington, D.C.). Communities will take the lead in stewarding the mangroves, and will receive at least 40% of gross revenue. 

We call for new commitments in the Verra standard to be reflected in other standards like ART-TREES and The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market’s Core Carbon Principles. 

Going forward, we would like to see further improvements in carbon standards, including a minimum proportion of gross revenue for local communities and a requirement that buyers of carbon credits responsibly curb their own emissions.

Please direct questions and/or interview requests to media@namati.org.

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Namati Sierra Leone, a legal advocacy group counseling all involved communities, said the agreement between the communities in the chiefdom of Sittia in Bonthe district and the Africa Conservation Initiative (ACI) is based on “carbon justice principles” aimed at making carbon projects fairer for communities.

The agreement targets the protection of roughly 79,000 hectares (about 195,213 acres) of mangroves in the Sherbro River Estuary, which hosts roughly half of the country’s mangrove forests. The estuary’s mangroves are threatened by growing demand for wood for cooking, smoking fish, farming and construction, according to James Harding, Sierra Leone director of West Africa Blue, ACI’s parent company.

The benefit-sharing agreement to protect these mangrove forests has been designed with reference to six carbon justice principles, said Daniel Sesay from Namati Sierra Leone. These principles were established by a global network of grassroots organizations based on their experience with past carbon projects.

The principles include “Fair participation,” where communities lead the stewardship of the natural resource; “No pay to pollute,” preventing polluters failing to reduce their own greenhouse gas emissions from buying carbon credits; and “Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC)” of the communities — where “informed” also means disclosing all financial information throughout the project’s life cycle.

To reduce dependency on mangrove wood, ACI’s carbon project is offering communities alternatives, including efficient cookstoves and fish-smoking ovens, planting timber woodlots, and access to capital, Harding told Mongabay by email.

Independent audits will determine how much greenhouse gas reductions occur from these efforts and from mangrove restoration, after which ACI will be issued carbon credits that organizations can buy to offset their emissions, Harding added.

ACI has “agreed to follow specific criteria in selecting buyers,” which include not selling to buyers who don’t do enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, Sesay said.

Transparency and accountability provisions in the agreement also “oblige the proponent to disclose sales and other related information,” he added.

Isa Mulder from Belgium-based think tank Carbon Market Watch, who wasn’t involved in the agreement, told Mongabay that the lack of price transparency is a huge barrier to communities being able to judge if they’re getting a fair share. Financial transparency, if it’s implemented, would be a “breakthrough,” she said.

“Fair compensation” is also a key climate justice principle, and Bonthe communities are set to receive 40-50% of gross revenue from the sale of carbon credits.

Some other carbon projects have a profit-sharing model, but these can get complicated, Sesay said. Developers might reinvest and expand a project over many years, making it unclear when profits actually begin, and communities typically lack access to the developer’s financial records to be able to determine actual profits.

“We have [had] some bad experience with profit share,” Sesay said. “We had to push away from profit share and stick to revenue share.”

ACI will retain between 42.5 and 52.5% of the gross revenue, while the government of Sierra Leone will receive 7.5-15.5%, Harding said.

“[The agreement] is a step in the right direction for the voluntary carbon market to address the many deep-rooted issues of fairness and even human rights violations,” Mulder said.

“These carbon justice principles were established by a diverse group of grassroots justice organisations and in my view, they embody what’s at the core of fair carbon markets,” she added.

“With Namati’s guidance, our communities gained confidence in partnering with ACI, ensuring youth participation,” Sandy Rogers, a youth leader in Sittia Chiefdom, said in a statement. “We anticipate employment and development for our communities.”

Sesay said it remains to be seen how the agreement is actually implemented. “We have to see how communities themselves will actually distribute their revenue; this a huge amount of money and the committees are not used to this amount of money,” he said.

“We also have to see how the proponents themselves play out the transparency and accountability, disclosing of buyers, and how communities will change their approach in using the mangroves to a more sustainable one.”

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Paramount Chief Thomas JKL Koroma the 2nd signs the landmark agreement.

Bonthe, Sierra Leone (October 20, 2025) — Until the passage of Sierra Leone’s 2022 Customary Land Rights Act, recognized as one of the most progressive land laws in the world,  communities had limited authority to give free, prior, and informed consent over the use of their land and resources. Following two years of deliberations, the new agreement between Africa Conservation Initiative (ACI) and over 220 communities in Sittia Chiefdom marks one of the first real-world applications of these landmark laws in the context of a carbon project, demonstrating how local communities can now play a decisive role in shaping and benefiting from conservation.

Namati Sierra Leone provided legal support to the communities throughout the process of negotiating the agreement.

“As part of the agreement, ACI will be providing cook stoves so that we don’t have to use the mangroves to make fires. That will be very helpful to ensure that we conserve the mangroves,” said Saffiatu Dauda, Bonthe community member. 

The benefit-sharing agreement was formally signed on October 18, 2025 as witnessed by community members, Namati staff and paralegals, and representatives from ACI. The agreement includes the following terms:

• Communities will take a leadership role in stewarding the mangroves.  
• The communities and ACI will jointly form a company to manage and distribute the revenue in a transparent manner.
• 40% of gross revenue goes to communities.

“With Namati’s guidance, our communities gained confidence in partnering with ACI, ensuring youth participation. We anticipate employment and development for our communities,” said Sandy Rogers, Youth Leader in Sittia Chiefdom.

“Under this new agreement, the people of Sittia Chiefdom will protect a critical-ecosystem and earn valuable revenue in the process,” said Namati CEO Vivek Maru. “We’d like to see more deals like this, in Sierra Leone and worldwide.”

Six Carbon Justice principles guided the negotiation process. These principles can inform future projects, policies, and standards to ensure more equitable and accountable carbon projects.

Please direct questions and/or interview requests to media@namati.org.

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Communities that earn a living by selling carbon credits have been briefed on the ongoing review of carbon standards by Verra, the world’s leading carbon crediting programme.

To read the full article by Mary Wambui of The Eastleigh Voice click here.

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The Land, Environmental, and Climate Justice Program in Kenya invites journalists to join an in-person media workshop on land rights and carbon in Nairobi on June 11 and 12, 2025.

This workshop is aimed at educating reporters on how communities secure and exercise their land rights, as well as the progress and challenges in the implementation of the 2016 Community Land Act, in order to support credible and dignifying reporting on land, environment, and climate in Kenya.

Why This Workshop:

60% of Kenya’s landmass are community lands. It’s estimated that more than 6 million Kenyans live on community lands. Most of them are members of pastoral or other rural communities. Loss of communal lands deprives Kenya’s most vulnerable citizens — especially women, ethnic minorities, and Indigenous People — of the source of their livelihoods, culture, and identity.

The passing of the Community Land Act in 2016 marked a historic milestone for Indigenous and local communities in Kenya. The law provides a framework for the registration and legal recognition of community lands. For the first time in the country’s history, Indigenous and pastoral communities can secure legal rights to own, manage, and govern the lands and natural resources that they depend on for their livelihoods. And yet implementation has been slow.

Meanwhile, many of these same communities are being approached by carbon project developers. These projects often use forests, wetlands, and grasslands to generate carbon credits, which represent the amount of greenhouse gas kept out of the atmosphere. Carbon credits are a tool meant to fight climate change while creating income for communities. However, in practice, communities often face the same challenges they have experienced with other large land deals, such as a lack of clear information, unfair terms, and decisions made without their consent.

Namati will bring together a diverse group of subject matter experts and community representatives who will share their knowledge and first-hand experiences with participating journalists. In doing so, we aim to strengthen the capacity of local journalists to understand and report on land rights, the Community Land Act, and real-life challenges faced by communities.

The workshop will be held in Nairobi, Kenya on June 11 and 12, 2025.

Eligibility Criteria

• This is a two day-workshop and participants must commit to both days.
• The workshop is open to journalists based in Kenya. Journalists from print, television, online and radio, with a demonstrated track record of producing incisive, in-depth stories.
• Demonstrate interest in social justice, land rights and carbon issues.
  Permit Namati to have the right to re-publish and distribute any stories produced as a result of journalists’ participation in the workshop, once they are published in media outlets.

Please note:

• Participants must commit to attending the workshop from June 11 to June 12, 2025.
• Meals and local travel allowance will be provided.
• Select journalists will receive a small reporting grant to undertake a Land, Environmental, and Climate Justice investigation after the workshop.

How to Apply

• Click here to apply.
• Applicants must submit at least two links to their work (published stories, audio/video recordings, photo essays, or other formats) that are relevant to environmental justice, climate change, or community issues in Kenya.
• Applicants must provide an approval letter from their editor or media outlet; freelancers may apply without a letter.
• Deadline to apply: May 14, 2025

About the Land, Environmental, and Climate Justice Program in Kenya

Namati advances social and environmental justice by building a movement of people who know, use, and shape the law. Namati supports communities to use national land laws to protect their customary and indigenous lands. Our approach supports communities to democratize their land governance, protect the rights of vulnerable and marginalised groups, and ensure that local elites do not engage in corrupt or exploitative practices at the expense of the wider community.

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The drought robbed them of their food security. The rains that arrived earlier this year, breaking the drought, were far too intense, resulting in flooding that further damaged the landscapes they have lived in and managed for generations.

Read Eileen Wakesho’s full article in The Africa Report here.

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A Case Study: The Village of Ngovokpahun

Namati’s Eastern Region office received a formal request for assistance from a small village called Ngovokpahun. The community reported that an Italian agricultural company, to which they had leased a significant portion of their land, had defaulted on its payments and become unreachable. According to the villagers, the company had failed to pay rent for more than two years.

Namati took up the case and successfully located the company’s president, Dr. Roberto Mariani. After clarifying the management difficulties that had affected the business, Dr. Mariani ordered a temporary suspension of operations so he could personally resolve the outstanding issues — both administrative and community-related. However, the Ebola epidemic, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic, caused further delays.

Upon his return to Sierra Leone, and after a series of meetings with the community and Namati representatives, the discussion took on a new, more collaborative tone.

The Broader Context: A Needed Reform

For decades, land investments in Sierra Leone have been plagued by non transparent agreements, often concluded between investment companies and chiefdom councils without the effective participation of the landowning families. Excluded from the decision-making process, these families were routinely denied their right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and ended up with unfavorable lease terms. They received inadequate and inconsistent compensation while suffering the environmental consequences of corporate operations — polluted water, degraded soil, and unfulfilled promises.

Commitments made by companies to build local infrastructure — roads, schools, health facilities — often went unkept.

The Turning Point in Ngovokpahun

In Ngovokpahun, landowners complained not only about inadequate payments but also suspected that Italian Agriculture had failed to measure the leased area correctly.

“We decided to push for a renegotiation of the agreement,” recalls Baindu Koroma, a Namati program officer.

The process began with a participatory land mapping exercise involving Namati, the company, the landowning families, and officials from the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Country Planning. Once consensus was reached on the total acreage involved, negotiations resumed with renewed energy.

The COVID-19 pandemic temporarily halted progress, but two years later, talks resumed in a new legal environment — one defined by the recent enactment of the Customary Land Rights Act (CLRA) and the National Land Commission Act.

A New Partnership

Following a formal termination of the contract between the landowners and Italian Agriculture, Dr. Mariani proposed a more transparent and compliant solution. All subsequent negotiations were transferred to One More Seed Ltd., a company duly registered with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and operating in full compliance with national laws.

The new lease agreement was negotiated in accordance with the Customary Land Rights Act, designed to eliminate discrimination under customary law and ensure equitable terms for communities.

“Under the new provisions, landowners are now entitled to receive 90% of the lease payments — up from just 50% previously,” explains Baindu. “The law also requires that landowning families negotiate directly with investors, rather than through chiefdom councils.”

With these protections in place, Ngovokpahun’s landowners successfully increased their annual lease rate from US$5 to US$15 per acre — a significant step toward economic justice and community empowerment.

A Model for the Future

The signing of the new lease agreement between One More Seed Ltd. and the landowning families of Ngovokpahun stands as a landmark achievement — tangible proof that Sierra Leone’s new land laws can deliver on their promise of fairness and transparency.

It also demonstrates that responsible investors exist — companies willing to believe in the country’s future while upholding community rights and respecting the law.

A hopeful future — one that, as on that historic day, still echoes in the rhythm of drums and the dance of celebration.

The post The Historic Signature That Validates the New Land Laws appeared first on Namati.

The Chief guest, Hon. Nixon Korir, principal Secretary, State department of Lands and physical acknowledged that indeed the transition process has been slow and inadequately resourced. He commits to channel resources to implementing the community land Act and secure tenure rights for communities in Kenya.

The launched report highlighted the following:

Slow progress in the transition of undissolved group ranches to community land

The transition of group ranches to community land has been slow. As of May 2023, 7 years after the enactment of the Community land act,  only 46 out of 315 group ranches had fully transitioned. This represents only 14% of the undissolved group ranches in Kenya.

The main barriers to progress included conflicts among group members (39.7%), financial constraints (22.5%), lack of information on the transition processes (20.6%), and registration challenges (17.2%).

Despite the slow progress, the report reveals the significant impact the transition process has on tenure security, democratizing governance structures, and community involvement in decision-making.

The report makes practical recommendations to fast-track the transition while ensuring inclusivity and equality for all community members as follows:

• Increased Resourcing of community land registration: The Ministry of Lands, Public Works, Housing, and Urban Development should allocate sufficient human and financial resources to support the transition process.
• Inclusive Statutory Forms: Review existing statutory forms, including the Community Land Act, CLA 2, and CLA 3, to include parameters such as gender, age, and physical disability, ensuring inclusivity in the transition process.
• Enhanced Coordination: Improve coordination among various actors, particularly County Governments and the National Land Commission.
• Sensitization Campaigns: County Governments should conduct continuous sensitization and awareness campaigns at the county and local levels to educate community members, leaders, and land officials about the transition process.

Call to Action: We have to get it right!

Understanding the significance of expediting the transition process for communities living on undissolved group ranches, while ensuring inclusivity and equality in the registration process, join us in advocating for:

• Adequate Resourcing for community land registration process

• Review of all statutory forms in the community land registration to include parameters like gender, age, and physical disability.

• Enhanced Coordination among all Actors in the registration process.

• Ensure Gender Inclusivity in the registration process.

Together, we can turn the recommendations of our research report into reality.

To download the full report click this link.

The post New report launched with the National Land Commission appeared first on Namati.

What experience or individual inspired you to join the fight for land and environmental justice?

Workshop on the draft environmental code with members of parliament (Photo Credit: Natural Justice)

I always had a passion for law. As soon as I graduated from high school, I was [already] in the law department of my university, and at first, my goal was to become an advocate lawyer. In university, I met a professor who was engaged in environmental law. This professor helped me get my first internship at the International Union for Conservation (IUCN) and that was very useful for my future career. Another inspirational experience was when I was working around natural resource management, and that gave me a major source of knowledge – managing environmental resources is a very important issue in developing countries.

When I finished my master’s degree, my first job was in an environmental assessment firm in Senegal. That helped me have a look at the big picture of how the extractive industry impacts communities. And all of this pushed me to say I am passionate about environmental law. During this time, I also met a very strong movement of women who were really engaged to defend the environment in Senegal, particularly in managing natural resources.

Lastly, I worked with a local NGO who focused on helping communities, protecting their biodiversity and ecosystems, and setting up their livelihoods. This work, combined with the LERPDES (Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherche en Politique et Droit de l’Environnement et de la Santé), enabled me to question environmental legislation and public policy, and that helped me paint a big picture of how it’s going in the country. I saw that supporting communities through legal empowerment is the best way to bring about systemic transformation involving the state, private actors and citizens.

Was there a turning point or particular moment in your life that shaped you or had a lasting impact on your journey?

Training of judicial actors from Senegal, Burkina Faso and Guinea on the application of environmental law (Photo Credit: Natural Justice)

Some events or interactions really make you very proud. These were high points of my involvement in supporting communities and their decision-making. The interactions I have had with communities, especially with women, showed me they are really the ones most dedicated to rise up to the environmental challenge, despite the daily difficulties.

A particular experience with women had a lasting impact on my journey. Waste management is a very big challenge in Senegal, and in Senegalese culture, women play a big role in managing waste at home and in the cities. The environmental issues here are almost always linked with health issues.

“I wanted to be part of a powerful community of women, and I really saw that even if they face so many challenges, they are very determined to protect and support the environment and advocate for a healthy and sustainable environment. This influenced my choice to stay with communities and work with them.”

The women I met were working on making waste management easy for both the communities and the municipal government. Then, we submitted a project to the European Union delegation, and they were able to provide the financial support we needed to implement a new system. We saw that the municipality didn’t have the human resources, financial capacity, or logistics know-how, so we organized the community and helped them to have all the logistics they needed. After that, we had the municipality manage some areas and see how they can be used for agriculture. At the end of the project, the communities were so happy. An immediate effect could be felt, especially during the rainy season. During the rainy months, people were always sick because of unhygienic water and poor sanitation. At the end of the project, we were at the hospital, and we saw the hospitalization percentage drop. The women made the project very strong.  

How have you been able to bring community voices and solutions into global and regional advocacy spaces? How have you made those spaces relevant to communities?

We have to work in the local circles and see how you can link them to the regional, sub-regional, and global levels.  As Natural Justice is part of the National Committee of Climate Change, I was part of the Senegalese delegation to COP. That meant I had access to the room. I was in the group discussion around the G77+ China and every morning, we had meetings to prepare and see where we were around gender, adaptation, agriculture, Loss and Damage,  and all other points in the agenda. I was focused on loss and damage issues. As I was part of the delegation, this gave me the opportunity to lobby with other delegates and push them to think about how we can integrate human rights in the discussion going on at COP.  

“If you are part of a delegation like this, it gives you access to last minute information, and you can be the bridge between communities or civil society who work in support of communities. You can give timely updates and information from this and hopefully, some good results.”

 

That also gave us the opportunity to set up a panel around one topic.  Last year, we were focused on gender and climate change issues.  We had a panel in the Senegalese pavilion; all the big women’s organizations like FemNET and the Gender Constituency were in the panel, and that was a critical moment for advocacy and lobbying. It’s really helpful to have events like this.

My role as a civil society member is to have a joint agenda or action when we go to COP. We need to have a joint agenda on how we can advocate together, whether we are in the Global South or Global North. For movement building, it’s really valuable to have a movie or documentary to share with communities when they are in this space. The work must be done before we come to COP.

This work can be challenging and difficult. What inspires you and helps you keep going?

First of all, we all agree that it is very challenging to do this work. But I come from a place of passion for this type of work, and that’s the most important thing for me. 

When I think of the impact or change I’m making, or when I’m contributing to changing the lives of communities, it is an added motivation for me too.

Sometimes we have an impact on legislation or global decisions – like the role civil society played in the UN’s recognition of the right to a healthy and sustainable environment. Some of this is inspiring and this helps us say “Okay, even though there are challenges, it is an improvement  in supporting communities on the ground.”

“Lastly, when I wake up in the morning and see my kids at home, I’m asking myself: “What kind of environment, what kind of world, do we leave for our children?” When I’m thinking about the future generation, that’s a big motivation for doing my work.”

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