Volkswagen ClimatePartner takes seriously the concerns raised in the report published by the Maasai International Solidarity Alliance (MISA) in March 2025 regarding soil carbon credit projects in Northern Tanzania.

We deeply respect the history, resilience, and challenges of the Maasai people. Our involvement in the Longido and Monduli Rangelands Carbon Project (LMRCP), implemented by our project partners Soils for the Future Tanzania (SftFTZ, the project implementing entity) and CarbonSolve LLC, is grounded in a commitment to improving rangeland health, supporting Maasai livelihoods, and promoting climate resilience through carbon finance. The project is designed to balance traditional pastoralist land use with sustainable land management while ensuring that Maasai communities retain full control over their land and benefit from participation.

In the following section, we would like to clarify several key points in response to the claims made in the MISA report:

1. Land Ownership and Rights

• SftFTZ does not acquire or control any land within the project area. All land titles remain entirely under the ownership of the Maasai villages, in accordance with Tanzanian law.
• The project does not involve land sales, leases, encumbrances or transfers to foreign entities.
• Maasai communities will continue to exercise full rights over their land and maintain their traditional grazing practices.

2. Contract Duration and Flexibility

• There is a scientific consensus that soil restoration takes time. The 40-year duration of the project contracts is needed to support the reality that degraded grasslands, such as those in Northern Tanzania, can take several decades to recover.
• This long-term commitment ensures sustainable land regeneration and stable economic benefits for communities. Importantly, contracts include exit clauses, allowing villages to review, renegotiate, or withdraw from the agreement where they choose to do so.

3. Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) Process

• Volkswagen ClimatePartner places a strong emphasis on FPIC, ensuring that all participating communities fully understand the project’s terms, benefits, and implications.
• The FPIC process begins with an early engagement to introduce the project, explain its broad concepts and its progression from introduction to implementation. This process includes, initially, the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and results in the two project agreements, namely the Carbon Rights Assignment Agreement and the Benefit Sharing Agreement.
• Engagement includes women, youth, and village elders, with all agreements requiring final approval from the village assembly before implementation.
• Dedicated Maasai team members within SftFTZ lead consultations to ensure cultural sensitivity, inclusivity, and transparency.
• An independent data management consultancy tracks all FPIC-related activities to document engagement and ensure full transparency.

4. Pastoralist Traditions and Grazing Practices

• The project is not designed to restrict Maasai traditions but rather to support sustainable pastoralism by preventing overgrazing and land degradation.
• The project does not disrupt traditional grazing but rather supports it with financial benefits, ensuring its sustainability while focusing specifically on preventing overgrazing.
• The project ensures flexible yet secure governance of grazing activities. While villages commit to core grazing principles, each village grazing committee designs a specific management plan that is agreed upon by participants. This plan can be adjusted over time to respond to changing conditions, emergencies, and community needs.

5. Fair Benefit-Sharing Mechanism and Initial Project Payments

• The project follows the Tanzanian legal framework on carbon trading, ensuring that revenues are distributed fairly among stakeholders.
• Benefit sharing is guided by the Tanzanian legal framework as further negotiated between the villages and SftFTZ with oversight from the district.
• Initial project payments are used to support project preparation. The payments are made after the Benefit Sharing Agreements have been signed and after the Rapid Rotational Grazing Plans have been developed.

6. Scientific Basis and Environmental Impact

• There is a broad consensus among the scientific community and global institutions, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), that tackling soil and land degradation—including soil carbon enhancements—is vital for combating climate change. Carbon crediting serves as an additional tool to achieve these impacts.
• The project methodology applies a peer-reviewed soil carbon model, which has been approved by VERRA for use in relevant contexts, including arid and semi-arid regions of East Africa.
• The methodology requires ex-post soil sampling to determine the actual accumulation of soil carbon over time to avoid over-crediting.

Volkswagen ClimatePartner is committed to ensuring that our climate initiatives respect land rights, promote sustainable development, and create real benefits for communities. We are committed to ongoing engagement with Maasai communities, independent experts, and regulatory bodies.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Volkswagen ClimatePartner

communications@volkswagen-climatepartner.de