Rural Development through Carbon Credits: Reflections on the Alternative of Carbon Capture in Developing Countries

The development of communities through nature-based solutions to environmental challenges has been seen as instrumental in promoting rural livelihoods and sustainable development. The facets of development, that is, social economic, political and environmental, have been successful in an area endowed with natural resources, such as forests. However, environmental challenges, such as climate change, have threatened the facets of development through its many and varied challenges. In trying to mitigate the challenges of climate change, innovative measures of reducing and removing atmospheric greenhouse gases (GHG) and at the same time improving people’s livelihoods, such as carbon crediting, are gaining momentum, especially in developing countries. Rural communities can now develop through nature-based solutions and this has been viewed as a sustainable way of improving the community’s livelihoods and mitigating climate change. The central argument of this article is that rural areas can be developed through alternative forms of carbon capturing which provide stocks of reduced or removed atmospheric carbon. Stocks of carbon can be sold by individuals or the community on the carbon market. The study is based on qualitative research that relies more on secondary than primary data. Secondary data was obtained through an extensive review of literature, whilst informant interviews, using interview guides, were used to obtain primary data.