Beyond Carbon: Community Wellbeing in the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project

As carbon markets expand across the Global South, community-based carbon projects are increasingly promoted as “triple-win” climate solutions that mitigate emissions, support economic development, and enhance local wellbeing. In Kenya, REDD+ projects have proliferated rapidly, yet there remains limited community-centred research examining their impacts on lived experience. This study addresses this gap through a qualitative case study of the Chyulu Hills REDD+ Project (CHRP). Grounded in environmental justice, the study critically examines how REDD+ projects shape community wellbeing, with particular attention to Maasai communities whose livelihoods, land relations, and cultural practices are closely tied to the landscape. It situates REDD+ within neoliberal conservation frameworks and Kenya’s colonial conservation history, highlighting how power, knowledge, and resources circulate through carbon governance. The research introduces an original conceptual framework—the “carbonscape”—adapted from Appadurai’s scapes, to examine the global–local flows of ideology, finance, actors, and technologies shaping carbon projects. Using semi-structured interviews, ethnographic observation, key interlocutor interviews, and photovoice, the study assesses wellbeing across social, economic, cultural, environmental, and political dimensions, focusing on participation, benefit sharing, land access, and cultural inclusion. The findings contribute Kenya-specific empirical insights to debates on REDD+, carbon markets, and climate justice, with implications for more equitable climate governance.

Faculty Supervisor:

Kariuki Kirigia

Student:

Partner:

United States International University - Africa

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

University of Toronto

Program: