{"id":217263,"date":"2025-12-16T13:38:35","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T17:38:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/namati.org\/?p=217263"},"modified":"2026-06-10T09:28:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T13:28:27","slug":"new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/namati.org\/news-stories\/new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"New Carbon Market Rules Recognize Community Rights","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/verra.org\/verra-launches-updated-landmark-standard-with-communities-at-its-core\/\">A new standard<\/a> from carbon certifier Verra incorporates principles from the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/grassrootsjusticenetwork.org\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grassroots Justice Network<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and frontline communities around the globe. The updated rules increase transparency, strengthen communities&#8217; right to free, prior, informed consent, and require revenue sharing with communities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Drawing on experience responding to carbon projects in more than 20 countries, members of the <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Grassroots Justice Network<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> identified <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/grassrootsjusticenetwork.org\/carbon-justice-movement\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">six principles necessary to make carbon projects fair<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As Elijah Lempaira of Impact Kenya notes, \u201cWithout access to information, fair benefit sharing and genuine participation from local communities, justice is lost.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Verra\u2019s updated standard reflects input from Namati and the Grassroots Justice Network, an alliance of justice groups from 180 countries. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The new rules address common challenges in carbon projects and give communities greater power. Specifically:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2014this gives communities an opportunity to set the terms under which a project can move forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project developers must share financial information with communities, including the total revenue received from carbon credit sales.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project developers must share a portion of revenue with local communities for any projects on community land.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u201cToday\u2019s changes are a major step towards carbon justice,\u201d said Namati CEO Vivek Maru.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many communities want to pursue carbon projects if the terms are fair. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, in October 2025, with legal support from Namati, more than 220 communities in Sittia Chiefdom, Sierra Leone <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.mongabay.com\/2025\/11\/sierra-leone-communities-sign-carbon-agreement-based-on-carbon-justice-principles\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">signed a carbon agreement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> guided by the same carbon justice principles that shaped recommendations to Verra. That new agreement <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">protects 7<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9,000 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.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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\u2019s Core Carbon Principles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Please direct questions and\/or interview requests to media@namati.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new standard from carbon certifier Verra incorporates principles from the Grassroots Justice Network and frontline communities around the globe. The updated rules increase transparency, strengthen communities&#8217; right to free, prior, informed consent, and require revenue sharing with communities.\u00a0 Drawing on experience responding to carbon projects in more than 20 countries, members of the Grassroots&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"author":6875,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[74,629],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217263","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environmental-justice","category-land-protection","namati_post_type-in-the-press"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>New Carbon Market Rules Recognize Community Rights - Namati<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/namati.org\/news-stories\/new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Carbon Market Rules Recognize Community Rights - Namati\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A new standard from carbon certifier Verra incorporates principles from the Grassroots Justice Network and frontline communities around the globe. The updated rules increase transparency, strengthen communities&#8217; right to free, prior, informed consent, and require revenue sharing with communities.\u00a0 Drawing on experience responding to carbon projects in more than 20 countries, members of the Grassroots...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/namati.org\/news-stories\/new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namati\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/GlobalNamati\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-16T17:38:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-06-10T13:28:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amanda Padilla\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GlobalNamati\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GlobalNamati\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amanda Padilla\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/namati.org\\\/news-stories\\\/new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/namati.org\\\/news-stories\\\/new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Amanda Padilla\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/namati.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2bec3d0a9b7f5734d2ff3be5b7650808\"},\"headline\":\"New Carbon Market Rules Recognize Community Rights\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-16T17:38:35+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-06-10T13:28:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/namati.org\\\/news-stories\\\/new-carbon-market-rules-recognize-community-rights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":373,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/namati.org\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Environment\",\"Land &amp; 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