The voluntary carbon market and the business of carbon offsetting have faced increasing criticism in recent years, not only for the systematic overestimation of emission reductions, but also because projects have frequently had adverse effects on local livelihoods, particularly in the Global South, where many land-intensive projects are located. From the perspective of the Land Matrix Initiative (LMI), a recent commentary usefully highlights the growing scale and complexity of a certain type of land-based carbon offset projects and underscores the urgent need for critical scrutiny. We welcome this debate. Our analytical report documents approximately 9 million hectares (more than 22 million acres) of land globally affected by carbon offset-related land deals, with a deliberate focus on large-scale transactions that entail direct changes in land control. This focus reflects the Land Matrix’s long-standing mandate to monitor land acquisitions that contribute to land concentration, shifts in control, and power asymmetries at scale. We argue that this massive scale of land acquisitions occurring under the auspices of voluntary carbon markets, and often within countries with weak land governance systems, has profound implications for land access for affected communities as well as for broader debates on climate justice. Blackwater oxbow lake in the Peruvian Amazon. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay. Further, we highlight that community- or farmer-based carbon projects that do not entail land acquisitions can have serious risks, including long-term restrictions on land use, inequitable contracts, lack of informed consent, and uncertain benefits for participating communities. The claim in the commentary that we…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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