Kenya deserves credit for writing benefit sharing into its carbon market law. Requiring land-based projects on community and public land to contribute at least 40% of earnings to communities, after costs, sets a clearer floor than most countries have. But a percentage is not a relationship. If carbon markets are to work for the people whose land and labour produce the credits, consent and transparency matter as much as the cheque.
Consent is not a signature
The regulations require developers to document free, prior and informed consent for community land-based projects. The test is in the words. Free means no pressure or inducements. Prior means before decisions are made. Informed means communities understand the project, the risks and, crucially, the money: how many credits, at what price, over how many years. Too many past projects treated consent as a meeting and a list of signatures. Regulators should ask to see what information communities were given and in what language.
Communities cannot judge a share they cannot see
Forty percent of what? Because the contribution is calculated after the cost of doing business, a developer’s accounts determine the community’s income. Unless revenues, costs and payments are disclosed project by project, communities have no way to check them, and disputes are inevitable. Publishing these figures through the national carbon registry would cost little and settle much.
Representation decides who benefits
Community development committees will manage the money. Their composition matters. If they are dominated by a few local elites, the benefit may not reach women, herders or young people who carry the costs of land-use changes. Rules on inclusive membership, public budgeting and independent audit should be standard.
Integrity is now a commercial issue
Buyers of carbon credits are increasingly wary of projects that face community opposition, and corporate purchasers face reputational risk if they buy credits linked to disputes. Credible consent and transparent benefit sharing are therefore not only ethical requirements; they are what makes Kenyan credits worth buying.
Kenya has built the legal foundation. The next step is to show, in public and in detail, that it works for the people it was meant to protect.
Sources: Chambers: Highlights of Kenya’s carbon market regulations · CM Advocates: Overview of the Carbon Market Regulations
