Over 1,000 Ogiek have been evicted from their homes in the Mau Forest in Kenya.

Kenya’s Forest and Wildlife Services have carried out brutal and forceful evictions of the indigenous Ogiek People, burning entire villages in the process.

This is all occurring, so Kenya can exploit the growing carbon markets. These markets allow polluting entities to “offset” their greenhouse emissions by paying to conserve areas such as the Mau Forest. Kenya’s president, Williams Ruto, called his carbon market an “unparalleled economic goldmine.” In October, the Kenyan government entered into an agreement with the Dubai-based firm Blue Carbon. It agreed to sequester millions of hectares of its land for the production of carbon credits.

This has directly led to the actions taken against the Ogiek in the Mau Forest.