Norwegian carbon plantations in Tanzania: Towards sustainable development?

Abstract

This study was conducted in the Southern Highlands of Tanzania. The objective was to investigate how the emergent carbon market through the Kyoto Protocol had lead the Norwegian company Green Resources AS to acquire large tracts of land for the establishment of carbon sequestration projects. By using the approach of political ecology and a set of minimum human-rights principles applicable to large-scale land acquisitions and leases. The aim was to investigate the impacts of Green Recourses projects on land tenure and local livelihoods. This was done by identifying the historical and present use of land as to further assess the effects of these projects on local social and economic development. With amongst others the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) as a guide, the aim was to investigate to what extent these projects had been able to live up to its dual goals of mitigating climate change and promoting sustainable development, and where inconsistencies were found, to identify possible obstacles. The methods used were amongst others semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, observations and literature reviews. Most of the changes of the utilization of land in the study area were a result of long-term political and economical policies from before and after the independence. This has lead to large tracts of land being allocated away to foreign private investors. In the long run, abandoning much of the village land may have implications for future generations, but also for local and national food security. The villages visited had received several social and economic benefits from the project, but issues regarding working conditions and salaries, question its sustainability. Furthermore, the study found that global win-win discourses and narratives regarding carbon offset forestry, have dominated the development of this blue print to solve global problems in environment and development. The narratives encountered in this case study also reflect this.