In recent years, there has been a significant trend toward land acquisition in developing countries, establishing forestry plantations for offsetting carbon pollution generated in the Global North. Badged as “green economic development,” global carbon markets are often championed not only as solutions to climate change, but as drivers of positive development outcomes for local communities. But there is mounting evidence that these corporate land acquisitions for climate change mitigation—including forestry plantations—severely compromise not only local ecologies but also the livelihoods of the some of the world’s most vulnerable people living at subsistence level in rural areas in developing countries.

This report examines the acquisition of land in Uganda by Green Resources, a Norwegian-registered plantation forestry company. Green Resources produces saw log timber and charcoal in Mozambique, Tanzania, and Uganda, and receives carbon-offset revenue from a number of its plantation forestry operations. This report focuses specifically on the company’s activities in Uganda, where it holds two licenses over 11,864 hectares of the government owned Central Forest Reserve, land that villagers historically had access to grow food, graze animals, and engage in cultural practices.