As carbon markets expand across Africa, the risks of land dispossession and marginalization grow for communities reliant on customary land tenure. Ensuring local communities and Indigenous Peoples are included and benefit from carbon credit schemes demands transparent and robust systems. Digital registration of customary land rights, paired with associated technologies, offers a transformative solution to embed justice within carbon markets.
“Clear documentation of land tenure is foundational,” states Wambayi Wabwire, a land administration advisor based in Nairobi working with the Cadasta Foundation. Carbon projects have often proceeded without formal acknowledgment of community rights, creating disputes and exclusion from benefits. Digital land registries directly address this gap. In Côte d’Ivoire, the World Bank-supported a project leveraging digital technologies to issue over 33,000 land certificates to rural communities enhancing tenure security. This has reduced conflicts, improved investment confidence and set a precedent for linking carbon projects to documented land tenure.
Clarifying and securing carbon rights is equally crucial. Many African countries lack clear legal frameworks defining carbon rights, often defaulting ownership to the state. This ambiguity severely disadvantages communities. Research by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) underscores the urgent need to explicitly align carbon rights with community land tenure. Tanzania’s Yaeda Valley REDD+ Project provides an innovative example. The digital mapping of community-managed land facilitated direct community ownership of carbon rights, allowing equitable distribution of carbon revenues. Digital platforms established a verifiable chain linking specific parcels of land with their carbon credits to ensure transparency and accountability.
Digital technologies significantly enhance the integrity and effectiveness of Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) processes agrees Esther Ajah, Special Assistant Climate change and Sustainability with the Government of Abia State in Nigeria. FPIC is critical to community rights protection but is frequently undermined when inadequately documented or verified. The African Carbon Markets Initiative (ACMI) recently developed digital FPIC tools, piloted in Ghana, capturing detailed records of community consultations, consent decisions, participant lists, and meeting outcomes through mobile applications. This digitization has improved transparency and provided verifiable proof of genuine community consent, enhancing regulatory compliance and strengthening community trust.
Transparent benefit-sharing mechanisms, a core element of environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards, remain essential to fair carbon markets. Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies stand out as practical and innovative solutions. The recently launched Zimbabwe Integrated Carbon Markets Association (ZICMA) comprises a registry for carbon credits ensuring secure, automated and transparent transactions. The system allows the issuance, trading and cancellation of carbon credits with full traceability ensuring data integrity. The registry leverages blockchain technology to provide a decentralized and tamper-proof platform, reducing the risk of fraud and enhancing the environmental value of each project. Communities involved in carbon projects directly receive clearly accounted shares of revenue, minimizing risks of financial misconduct or misallocation.
Shamiso Mtisi, an environmental lawyer based in Harare, cautions it is still too early to provide an objective assessment on the impact of the new regulations. He detects early indications investors may look positively at the regulations and suggests that communities might see benefits once the 20 per cent threshold for sustainable development projects within communities materialize. Mtisi describes the new registry as a positive development in comparison to the previous regime that had removed community benefits thresholds.
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Robust grievance mechanisms are critical to address disputes effectively and maintain community trust. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) emphasized robust human rights safeguards within carbon markets, mandating accessible grievance mechanisms (UNFCCC). A digital grievance redress mechanism (GRM) is planned for Kenya’s Safeguard Information System (SIS). GRMs enable communities to submit complaints via SMS or mobile applications that automatically alerting authorities and ensure transparent tracking until resolution.
Such services have the potential to enhance responsiveness and accountability crucial to maintain the legitimacy and sustainability of carbon projects. These services can be a challenge to sustain and as Jacklin Karimi, a policy engagement specialist at the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development in Nairobi, suggests: What happens when these authorities receive alerts is important. Reporting mechanism must be supported by robust resolution mechanisms and frameworks.
Reliable Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) systems underpin environmental integrity and carbon credibility. Digital integration of land registries with satellite imagery, drone technology and remote sensing can significantly enhance MRV accuracy. The World Bank highlights digital MRV as reducing costs and enhancing transparency. Yalemsew Adela, the UNDP REDD+ Investment Program and MRV Coordinator and Innovation Analyst explains that the Eco-region REDD+ project in Ethiopia’s Bale Mountains consists of three key components: 1. Activity Data Generation – Primarily through digital tools such as GIS and remote sensing technologies; 2. Emission Factor (EF) Development – Derived from the national forest inventory data; and 3. Verification – Conducted by accredited, independent third-party verifiers. The integration of digital MRV systems with community land maps can drastically improve carbon stock measurements and reduced the risk of “double counting” to ensure project integrity and enhance community benefits.
Digital registration must proceed alongside inclusive legal and policy frameworks. The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) warns that rushed establishment of carbon rights regimes without community consultation could lock in inequitable arrangements and risk constitutional challenges. National policy mandates should explicitly link carbon project approvals to digital customary land registration to ensure regulatory frameworks enforce clear standards for equity and transparency.
Effective implementation requires collaboration. Governments can mandate digital land registration and integrate carbon registries while NGOs and development partners support accessible, open-source digital tools. Capacity-building initiatives remain essential. Dr. Ngonidzashe Chirinda, Professor in Sustainable Tropical Agriculture at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University in Morocco suggests training curriculums must evolve so that individuals are fully equipped with digital skills. Training communities need to incorporate navigation of digital platforms, managing smart contracts and engaging with Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV). This approach will reduce capacity building costs submits Chirinda. Regulators also require enhanced technical skills to audit digital records effectively to ensure ongoing compliance and integrity. Chirinda recommends governments invest in creating a supportive environment to enable digital transformation.
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Embedding digital customary land registration within carbon markets goes beyond a simple technical fix and represents a commitment to equitable, inclusive climate action. Concrete examples from Côte d’Ivoire, Tanzania, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Kenya and Ethiopia demonstrate how digital technologies transform abstract justice principles into tangible community benefits. Securing the rights and interests of local communities and Indigenous Peoples through digital innovation presents Africa with an opportunity to lead the global shift toward fair, transparent and sustainable carbon markets.
