Recent reports have surfaced regarding a significant land deal between the Liberian government and a Dubai-based company, sparking concerns about the potential impacts on Indigenous communities and the environment in Liberia. The deal involves the sale of approximately 10% of Liberia’s total land area to Blue Carbon, a Dubai company, for conservation purposes aimed at selling carbon credits. This is about 4,220 square miles (10,931 square kilometers).

Blue Carbon intends to profit from conservation efforts by selling carbon credits to offset emissions from polluters. However, critics question the climate benefits of this model and warn of potential adverse impacts on Indigenous livelihoods, labeling it “carbon colonialism.”

The agreement, which was reached without consultation with local communities, also raises legal and ethical concerns. Activists argue that the Liberian government lacks legal authority over the land, as Liberian law recognizes Indigenous land ownership. This lack of legal framework for carbon credits in the West African country leaves Indigenous communities vulnerable to exploitation and displacement.

“Many such projects are associated with appalling human rights abuses against local communities at the hands of park rangers,” Simon Counsell, an independent researcher of conservation projects in Kenya, Congo, Cameroon and other countries, told The Associated Press. “The majority had involved evictions, most were involved in conflict with local people, and almost none had ever sought or gained the landholders’ consent.” Counsell is also the former director of Rainforest Foundation UK, a nonprofit that promoted human rights and environmental protection.

Similar initiatives across Africa have faced scrutiny for their lack of transparency and potential harm to local populations. In Kenya, Indigenous communities have already been displaced to make way for carbon credit projects.

Blue Carbon is also in talks with Zambia and Tanzania, according to the French daily newspaper Le Monde. The company was established less than a year ago by Sheikh Ahmed Dalmook Al Maktoum, a member of Dubai’s ruling family within the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

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