Memorandum of Understanding – Carbon: Money grows on trees

The Memorandum of Understanding podcast documentary series was formerly separate from Devpolicy Talks. Its back catalogue has now been merged into Devpolicy Talks Season 10. The forest is a resource traditionally deemed more valuable dead, chopped down or transported away in trucks and boats. For decades, development donors and NGOs have appealed to the moral high ground, attempting to persuade the people who live in forest areas to safeguard it. But these people depend on forests to survive, so time and again, these efforts are met with the rational question, ‘what’s in it for me?’ BioCarbon Partners (BCP) is an African social enterprise based in Zambia that shows more value and worth can accrue to communities by keeping trees in the ground than by chopping them down. “To combat climate change, we need to protect our forests. To protect our forests, we need to invest in people.” In every sense of the word, BCP has built a self-sustaining livelihood ecosystem which allows communities to grow without encroaching on the forest that they live beside. To better understand the connections between conservation, carbon, communities and global commitments, we speak to CEO, Dr Hassan Sachedina, before juddering down Zambia’s dusty, potholed dirt roads with Communications Coordinator, Chloe Evans, to meet BCP’s community partners of the Luembe and Sandwe Chieftains. Recommended reading: Read up on REDD+ with this Forest News explainer and a note from the IIED. Memorandum of Understanding production team: Host, Gordon Peake Producer, Julia Bergin Sound Design: Luther Canute Visual credits: Women gathering around a BCP borehole in the Sandwe Chiefdom. Photo courtesy of BioCarbon Partners. Devpolicy Talks is the podcast of the Australian National University's Development Policy Centre. Read and subscribe to our daily blogs at devpolicy.org.Learn more about our research and join our public events at devpolicy.anu.edu.au.Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram for latest updates on our blogs, research and events.You can send us feedback, and ideas for episodes too, to [email protected].