African Parks has generated $7.35 million in carbon credit sales from Chinko National Park in the Central African Republic, Helge Mahne, global funding director for African Parks, confirmed to Mongabay in an email. An unspecified sum was also raised via sales from a similar project in Benin’s Pendjari and W national parks, although the nonprofit declined to share details about the buyer or revenue figures. The credits were produced by two REDD+ projects, one at Chinko and another that includes Pendjari and W, so named for the shape of the Niger River at the park’s northern boundary. Both projects were co-developed by the Swiss climate consultancy firm South Pole and listed on the carbon certifier Verra’s registry. According to their submission and verification documents, both projects generate carbon credits by protecting the parks’ forests and savannah grasslands, primarily from encroachment by local farmers and herders. “Since both are REDD+ projects, they rely on the results from the reduction of threats that could affect the integrity of the protected areas, including overgrazing and slash-and-burn agriculture in Benin, and artisanal mining, livestock overgrazing and slash-and-burn agriculture in Central African Republic,” Mahne said. The sales will help fund the management of the three protected areas, which are home to many endangered species. Pendjari and W national parks host some of West Africa’s last remaining elephants, and Chinko includes populations of lions as well as endangered chimpanzees and African wild dogs. The project documents say that without African Parks’ presence, they would be severely…This article was originally published on Mongabay