FACE Foundation Mount Elgon carbon forest (Uganda)
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
A 1994 agreement covering 25,000 hectares of Mount Elgon in Uganda is listed as a carbon forest project. Reporting links the project area to the eviction of the Benet people.
As listed for the FACE Foundation Mount Elgon carbon forest, 1990–2009.
Status As of October 2026: the sources reviewed record evictions reported in 2009 and later shootings in the area; no court ruling or official finding on the project is on record.
- Benet people — Reported evicted from the park area IPS (cited with WRM and Chris Lang)
What happened
The FACE Foundation Mount Elgon carbon forest in Uganda is listed with a 1994 agreement covering 25,000 hectares. The period of the case runs from 1990 to 2009.
A November 2009 IPS report is cited for evictions of the Benet people from the area.
Separately, Minority Rights Group counted at least seven shootings by Uganda Wildlife Authority rangers in the Benet area of Mount Elgon since April 2020, and Amnesty International's 2024 report said that UWA officers shot three people, killing two children. The sources reviewed do not tie these shootings to the FACE project.
- 1994Agreement covering 25,000 ha
- 2009IPS report on the Benet evictions (November)
- 2020Minority Rights Group begins counting shootings by UWA rangers in the Benet area (from April)
- 2024Amnesty International report on UWA shootings
What was said
Where accounts differ
Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.
Reported evictions of the Benet people from the Mount Elgon area; headline: Uganda Mount Elgon eviction has reduced us to beggars.
IPS (cited with WRM and Chris Lang)Reported as rejecting the connection; not verified against the full text.
IPS (cited with WRM and Chris Lang)How it looked
Shown
Recorded
- A 1994 agreement covered 25,000 ha.
- Evictions of the Benet people are reported in connection with the project area.
- Minority Rights Group counted at least seven shootings by UWA rangers in the Benet area since April 2020; Amnesty's 2024 report said UWA officers shot three people, killing two children. Not tied to the project in the sources reviewed.
Who gained
Reached nature or the ground
Gained elsewhere
Responses on record
- face-foundation: Reported as rejecting the link between the project and the evictions (not independently verified). · IPS (cited with WRM and Chris Lang)
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What nature saw
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Accounts
- Disputed Were the Benet evictions connected to the carbon forest project?
Record
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the FACE Foundation was set up in 1990 by the Dutch electricity generating board to offset the emissions of a new power station by planting trees.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the 1994 agreement was made with the Uganda Wildlife Authority in Mount Elgon National Park, and credits went to the Dutch firm GreenSeat, which sold them to airline customers.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: FACE rejected the link between its project and the evictions.
- Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the project kept its FSC certificate.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not give the number of people evicted, the dates of the evictions or any compensation.
Did the harm stop?
The sources reviewed do not say whether the evictions or the project ended.
Who paid?
The Benet people, reported as evicted from the park area (IPS, November 2009).
Sources
Press and investigations
- Uganda: Mount Elgon eviction has reduced us to beggarsIPS (cited with WRM and Chris Lang) · 2009-11