"Indigenous communities sidelined for Suriname’s new carbon credit program, critics say", 26 August 2024

...The government in Suriname announced an offering of the world’s first sovereign carbon credits through the UNFCCC Paris Agreement framework, allowing the country to issue and trade carbon credits with other countries and the private sector. But communities living in the forests that made the credits possible say the government rushed the process and didn’t take them into account.

“The people who’ve really been caring for the forest and who need to be strengthened first and foremost are kind of a side note. They’re kind of an afterthought,” John Goedschalk, head of Climate Change Advisory Services, told Mongabay. “…The government put together this whole process and this whole system, and then they went to the communities and said, ‘Oh, by the way, this is it.’ I mean, that’s just wrong on so many levels”...

The country’s ability to conserve so much forest cover is largely due to Indigenous and Afro-descendent peoples who have actively defended the rainforest from mining, agriculture and logging despite not having their land rights officially recognized by the government.

They say they were largely left out of the development of the new carbon credit program in the months leading up to its launch. They weren’t approached about it until weeks before the official announcement, leaders said, while other communities weren’t consulted at all, a violation of their right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent, a consultation process that allows them to make decisions about their land.

The government has had a community-capacity building and consultation process built into its carbon credit plans for a decade, but didn’t apply it in this case, Goedschalk said...

Even after a presentation from the government, many communities said they were left with questions...

They also say they’re getting mixed messages about revenue sharing...

The ministry didn’t respond to a request for comment for this article...