3 November 2010: The World Bank signed the first African Emission Reduction Purchase Agreement (ERPA) on soil carbon in a ceremony held at the International Conference on Agriculture, Food Security, and Climate Change in The Hague, the Netherlands.

The Kenya Agricultural Carbon Project, implemented by the Swedish non-governmental organization (NGO) Vi Agroforestry, is located on 45,000 hectares in the Nyanza Province and Western Province of Kenya. Small-holder farmers and small-scale business entrepreneurs are trained in cropland management techniques such as covering crops, crop rotation, compost management and agro-forestry. These practices increase the yield of the land and generate additional sources of income for the farmers through the payment for environmental services in the form of carbon credits. The World Bank-administered BioCarbon Fund will buy the carbon credits, providing direct benefit to local communities of over US$350,000 with an initial payment of US$80,000 to be made in 2011. [World Bank Press Release]