Indigenous Carbon Leadership: Voices from the field

The report examines ten indigenous carbon market projects across Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico. It highlights diverse methodologies—including afforestation, avoided deforestation, and traditional fire management—to demonstrate how carbon revenues can support environmental, cultural, and economic goals. The document identifies systemic challenges such as a lack of federal policy, difficulties with third-party verification of tribal land governance, and the technical complexity of proving 'additionality'. It recommends participatory planning, the use of voluntary markets for 'co-benefits', and the development of indigenous-specific verification resources to ensure local ownership and sustainability.

• The Nez Perce tribe in the US utilized afforestation and reforestation/fire restoration projects to generate offsets sold on the Chicago Climate Exchange (CCX) at prices between $1.07 and $4.30 per tCO2, though they faced significant hurdles with third-party verifiers who did not understand "tribal land ownership issues and governance".
• In Australia, the West Arnhem Land Fire Abatement Project (WALFA) used traditional knowledge and Western science to abate approximately 150,000 tCO2e per year, generating $1 million annually through a fee-for-service arrangement with CONOCO Phillips to help Elders re-establish livelihoods on clan estates.
• Maori landowners in New Zealand integrated carbon sequestration from native Manuka reforestation into a holistic land-use plan, allowing carbon revenues to subsidize other activities like bee hives, ecotourism, and biodiversity reserves, as carbon trading alone was not economically viable at $15.00 per tCO2.
• The Scolel Té project in Mexico, utilizing the Plan Vivo standard, generated $1.8 million in total revenues through 2009 by employing diverse methodologies such as agroforestry and forest restoration, with producers netting up to 66% of total revenues.
• The Lummi Nation in the US secured a 100-year conservation easement for 1,654 acres of old-growth forest through a flat-fee agreement with the Climate Trust, preventing commercial logging while preserving sites for the Spirit Dancing Society (Seyown).
• The Munsee Delaware Nation in Canada established a biomass tree farm of hybrid poplar trees, creating 48 short-term jobs in 2010 and selling credits to TD Bank to support the bank's carbon neutrality goals.
• The Haida Nation and the Government of British Columbia established a first-of-its-kind revenue-sharing arrangement in Canada to quantify and share the value of carbon credits from protected forests, including $10 million from the province to repurchase forest licenses.
• Poplar River First Nation in Manitoba identified over 440 megatons of carbon stored in its traditional territory, with over 90% located in deep peat deposits, highlighting that boreal forests can store nearly twice as much carbon per acre as tropical forests.
• A critical systemic challenge for indigenous projects is the lack of federal legislation and a regulated cap-and-trade system in North America, which has reduced the value of carbon and discouraged future investments.
• The report recommends that communities use voluntary markets to access 'co-benefits'—additional socioeconomic or ecological advantages—which can make small-scale projects more attractive to buyers than large industrial projects.

APA

Morgan, S., & Shantz, A. S. (2011). Indigenous Carbon Leadership: Voices from the field. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/fncc_voices_from_the_field.pdf

Chicago

Morgan, Shaunna, and Angelique Slade Shantz. Indigenous Carbon Leadership: Voices from the field. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2011. https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/fncc_voices_from_the_field.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Morgan |first1=Shaunna |last2=Shantz |first2=Angelique Slade |title=Indigenous Carbon Leadership: Voices from the field |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=16 February 2011 |url=https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/fncc_voices_from_the_field.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{morgan2011indigenous, author = {Morgan, Shaunna and Shantz, Angelique Slade}, title = {{Indigenous Carbon Leadership: Voices from the field}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2011}, month = feb, url = {https://www.iisd.org/system/files/publications/fncc_voices_from_the_field.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }