The Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT) has defended its carbon credit project in Northern Kenya against allegations of human rights violations, misappropriation of funds, and illegal occupation of community land.

A documentary by an international media outlet claimed that the project, operating under the name Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Credit, was associated with incidents of kidnapping, killings, and rape.

The NRT carbon credit project is the largest of its kind in the world. It involves rotational grazing, which removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and binds it to the soil.

Launched in 2012 by the Northern Kenya Rangeland, it is projected to sequester the equivalent of the annual carbon output from 10 million cars in its first three decades.

By 2022, Netflix and Meta had purchased over 250,000 tonnes of carbon offsets from the project.

NRT has brought together approximately 14 community conservancies to participate in the project, which combines livestock keeping, tourism, and wildlife conservation.

However, some community members have claimed they are being denied access to grazing land, and there are claims that rangers have killed herders trying to access pasture.

Critics of the project say the conservancies employ illegally armed rangers who terrorise pastoralists attempting to access grazing land.

The management of the Malako Community Conservancy, which was featured in the documentary as having issues with the project, has disowned the claims made in the story.

According to Andrew Lekole, the conservancy’s chairman, the documentary was biased and intended to undermine the project.

“The claims that rangers have killed herders and raped women are false and meant to destroy the project. The story they aired is false,” Lekole told The Standard in an interview.

He emphasised that there had been no reports to the police regarding murder or rape at the conservancy as alleged.

“The allegations that our rangers are raping people are untrue. Not a single case has been reported to the police. We have a grazing committee that regulates grazing during droughts; the rangers are only tasked with protecting the endangered wildlife in the area,” he added.

Melako Conservancy manager Simon Saitin stated that the carbon project had positively impacted the community.

Antonella Lekupes, the chairperson of the grazing committee, highlighted that proceeds from the carbon project have helped many children pursue education, supported terminally ill people and improved learning facilities.

“The community is regularly updated on the projects, and our financial records are audited,” he said.

Paul Saruni, one of the individuals featured in the documentary, said that many of the positive points he raised during his interview were not included in the report.

“I met with the team of journalists conducting the interviews; they asked me about the benefits of the carbon credit project, and I shared a wide range of positive outcomes, none of which were aired in the documentary,” he said.

NRT clarified that it does not own the land on which the carbon credit project is implemented.

“All land under the project is owned by the respective communities. NRT supports the land registration process to ensure secure land tenure for all communities,” said Tom Lalampaa, CEO of the Northern Rangelands Trust.

Lalampaa further stated that there is no evidence to support claims of human rights violations linked to NRT, the Northern Kenya Rangelands Carbon Project (NKRCP), or its member conservancies.

He also pointed out that there are no police investigations, court cases, or credible reports of kidnappings or killings associated with the project, NRT, or its member conservancies.

“A 2024 independent Conflict Sensitivity Analysis conducted by Saferworld… did not come across cases of human rights abuses,” he said.