Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO) has declined to disclose how much revenues the Company is generating from its international trading from Zambian generated carbon credits to Shell’s Nature Based Solutions or any other uptakers.
Company Communications Manager George Sichimba declined to state the share of revenues that COMACO is paying to local farmers and rural folks whose Agro land and forest conservation reserves are being used to get verified carbon credits which are then traded for cash with emission generating companies and individuals.
When asked to disclose how much COMACO was selling the verified carbon credits which they reported to have accrued to over 880k units and what share it was paying local farmers in Zambia, Sichimba told the Zambian Business Times-ZBT that the information is already in the public domain and was available via the Verra website but he declined to give the annual revenue figures.
A further check by the ZBT on the Verra website revealed that specific information relating to COMACO and its use of Zambian generated carbon credit was not available. COMACO was therefore not able to clear the air that they are selling Zambian generated carbon credits at a higher price and only sharing suspected paltry amounts with the affected communities with no direct contribution to the government treasury.
A top Zambian Environmental expert has told ZBT that the ministry of Tourism and Green Economy in Zambia should by now become revenue generating ministries as opposed to their continued status as cost centers. They should by now be generating serious revenues from carbon credits using the huge land masses covered by game parks, rural conservation farming areas, forest and game management areas.
However, these two ministries have continued to post low revenue generation missing out on fast developing and lucrative revenues opportunities such as these from trading in carbon credits. They are missing out because of lack of knowledge which some private companies have taken advantage of. Unfortunately, these private companies and some which are disguised as non-governmental organizations are making millions of dollars in revenues which are not fully and publicly disclosed despite generating their revenues from public resources.
COMACO in partnership with Shell’s Nature based Solutions recently released a Cheque for $3.1 million carbon credit payment to nine (9) chiefdoms of Zambia in recognition for their conservation efforts and the reduced emissions of CO2 they have achieved. Environmental Analysts however argue that COMACO and other companies involved in carbon credits trading from public resources should further disclose how much they made and what share this $3.1 million was of the total revenues raised.
COMACO in its report confirmed that they have successfully completed the verification of 883,068 carbon credits for the nine chiefdom areas who have managed to keep their customary land protected from destructive practices and made a $3.1 million payment to some chiefdoms. The chiefdoms include Magodi, Zumwanda, Chikomeni, Mwasemphangwe, Nyamphande, Chikulwe, Jumbe, Mwape, and Luembe. The chiefdoms are yet to confirm how these funds have been utilized by press time.
