Tanzania has registered 117 carbon projects as part of a wider push to expand citizen participation in carbon trading and connect local projects to international markets.

Deputy Minister of State in the Vice-President's Office for Union and Environment Affairs Reuben Kwagilwa gave the update in the National Assembly in Dodoma. He was responding to a question on strategies being used to help citizens take part in carbon trading.

Kwagilwa said the National Carbon Monitoring Centre is implementing measures that include public education through media, social platforms, workshops and seminars targeting communities and special groups. The government has also improved its carbon project registration system, through which the 117 projects have been registered.

Other measures include training and advisory services for citizens and communities, links between carbon projects and international markets, and strategies on access to finance intended to attract local investors into carbon projects. The government is also strengthening mechanisms for transparency in benefit sharing and fair agreements with communities involved in protecting forests and land.

The policy focus is commercially relevant because carbon trading can turn conservation and land-management activity into investable projects, but only where registration, financing, market access and benefit-sharing rules are clear. For communities and local investors, the government's next challenge is converting registered projects and awareness campaigns into bankable structures that can generate income while preserving environmental assets.