Footprints in the Valley
The project ‘Footprints in the Valley’ explores how forests are commercialised in emissions trading: the capacity of forest landscapes to store carbon is traded as a product to promote environmentally friendly practices. Eline Benjaminsen’s project follows the entire chain, from ‘conscious consumers’ and governments to corporations and the effects on ecosystems and people.
The investigation began when Benjaminsen invested in an afforestation project. She bought a certificate from a trader in London promising to plant one tree in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley to offset one tonne of carbon emission. Such European projects are trying to fund conservation measures in Embobut, a rainforest north of the Great Rift Valley. This has led to violent evictions of the indigenous Sengwer people, who regard the forest as their ancestral home.
The first chapter of this ongoing project focuses on Embobut. Here Benjaminsen worked closely with Elias Kimaiyo, a Sengwer community leader and land rights advocate. Benjaminsen examines the trees from different perspectives: that of the market, where they are seen as ‘carbon credits’, and that of the Sengwer community, who depend on the trees for their livelihood. The latter is visible on the tree bark in which smaller and larger cuts are made to collect wood for making beehives and medicine, for example.
