There is no money': As carbon markets collapse, what happens to the forests they promised to protect?

"Solomon Morris Makau checks the fallen tree for snakes before he wraps a tape measure around the trunk. The early morning sun is overwhelming in the dryland forests of the Kasigau corridor, which separates the east and west Tsavo national parks in southern Kenya. Two guards keep watch for elephants and lions. There is little sign of green among the sprawling acacias, which stand silently in their punishing wait for the end of the dry season."

"Just two years ago, the survival of these trees a crucial elephant habitat was the basis of a multibillion dollar carbon boom that touched almost every large-scale forest on Earth, underpinning the environmental claims of some of the biggest companies in the world. Netflix and Shell were among the companies that bought millions of credits from Kasigau. The market reached more than $2bn (1.5bn), propelled by a wave of enthusiasm for offsets as a solution to global heating and biodiversity loss."

Field teams measure trees and shrubs in the Kasigau corridor to calculate growth and changes in carbon stock while guards watch for elephants and lions. The dryland acacia forests provide crucial elephant habitat and show visible signs of stress and occasional tree death from elephant activity. Two years earlier the survival of these trees became the basis for a multibillion-dollar carbon-credit boom that underpinned environmental claims by major companies. Corporations including Netflix and Shell purchased millions of credits as the market surged above $2bn, driven by pandemic-era enthusiasm for offsets and new trading desks at banks.

Read at www.theguardian.com