Story by Fungai Jachi
ZIMBABWE is leaving nothing to chance in its quest to contain the impact of climate change with the government having introduced a carbon credit sales framework for the benefit of communities and investors.
The introduction of a National Carbon Credit Framework that will see players in the industry regularising operations, has been described as a positive move meant to ensure accountability and transparency in carbon trading.
“This is a good move that will see sanity in the industry. It was not proper for investors to operate without any form of regularisation. Through this, traders will be accountable to the communities and the government,” said Carbon Green Africa Managing Partner, Mr Charles Ndondo.
“I think this is a positive development in that there is now a guideline as to how we should operate because the major beneficiaries for these projects are the communities and so it should be clear as to how they should benefit,” noted Rangelands Regeneration Chief Executive Officer, Mr Steven Pocock.
An engagement between the government and players in the carbon credit industry held in Harare Monday evening saw the government stressing the need for operators to comply with the framework or risk having their projects cancelled.
“As a country, we cannot risk having producers operating any how they want because at the end of the day it is the people who will suffer. We want the carbon credit industry to improve communities,” noted Minister of Environment Climate Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Honourable Mangaliso Ndlovu.
“For the longest time operators have been operating without a guideline and the country was not fully benefiting from the exploits, but now all that will change as we encourage all to regularise their operations so as to be accountable,” he added.
The Carbon Credit Framework will promote and regulate carbon trading in Zimbabwe as well as facilitate trade in carbon credits to contribute to climate change mitigation and sustainable development.
Carbon credits are paid to communities for forest conservation since forests absorb carbon emissions, which in turn help in mitigating the effects of climate change.
