Malawi’s handling of forest-based carbon-credit concessions is facing scrutiny after about 550,000 hectares of public forest were tied up in a long-term arrangement that, according to The Mail & Guardian, effectively locks forest reserves into carbon-credit commercialisation for decades before Parliament has passed a dedicated law to regulate such deals. The Mail & Guardian reports that lawmakers and civil society groups have raised concerns about the scale of the concessions, the long exclusivity period, and the lack of published benefit-sharing terms.
The same investigation says Portugal-based construction group Mota-Engil told regulators in Lisbon that its agroforestry subsidiary Mamaland signed an exclusive agreement with Trafigura to market and sell carbon credits from 14 Malawian forest reserves, linked to roughly 550,000 hectares, for 40 years, according to The Mail & Guardian.