AFRICANS REJECT DEAL TO EASE WEST’S CARBON GUILT

Reducing carbon emissions is one way to help the climate. Paying for so-called carbon credits and offsets is touted as another. However, the reality is that not only does this enable the rich to keep on polluting, but it also often impacts the lives of communities where counter-emissions projects are implemented. One example is the 'Soils for the Future' programme, in which Kenya tries to secure ancestral lands for local tribes to implement green policies. On 1 May in Kajiado County, locals fought back - organising a major protest against a proposed deal to see the land surrendered for limited compensation. The irony is that Africa bears the brunt of climate change, but causes a fraction of the world's pollution compared with highly industrialised regions - yet we are expected to go green before attaining full development. It's high time the West started compensating us for the environmental damage it's inflicting on us, don’t you think?

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