Contribution short abstract

Drawing on analysis of data from ten (10) carbon offset registries, we map the uneven geographies of REDD+ type projects in West Africa. We found that private actors dominate carbon forestry projects, and more than half of the project proponents are based or headquartered outside Africa.

Contribution long abstract

Geographers have analyzed the politics of carbon offset projects, often focusing on individual projects or groups of projects across regions, with relatively little attention to regional dynamics. Drawing on analysis of data from ten (10) carbon offset registries, we map the uneven geographies of REDD+ type projects in the West African region, tracing and mapping project proponents and collaborators, offset buyers, project areas, and project timelines. We found that private actors dominate West African carbon forestry projects, and more than half of the project proponents are based or headquartered outside Africa. The majority of carbon offset buyers are based in Europe, where companies in the Engineering, Manufacturing, and Construction sectors top the list. In addition to the much-analyzed Global North-South and local-global spatialities underpinning REDD+, our study highlights the regional histories, politics, and socioecologies that also shape REDD+ dynamics in West Africa. We demonstrate that carbon forestry initiatives should be understood as space-making relations and processes that are reconstituting the West African region through the uneven distribution of influence and control over carbon, forests and land. We conclude that spatially explicit regional analyses of REDD+ are crucial for deepening our understanding of forest carbon politics as actors pursue net-zero agendas globally.