In a photo taken on February 11, 2011, a

In a photo taken on February 11, 2011, a man waters tree seedlings bought from communities surrounding Maungu, a village some 304 kilometres (189 miles) southeast of Kenyan capital, Nairobi, as part of an effort to move away from a decades-old, and largely illegal, practice of chopping down forest for charcoal making. Wildlife Works, an international green organisation that runs a carbon credit scheme in the area, has so far managed to conserve some 75,000 acres of typical forest at Rukinga Wildlife Ranch in Maungu by creating awareness of the benefits of a swap from forest destruction for charcoal to selling carbon credits. The idea is that the trees planted and preserved absorb atmospheric carbon and firms pay to offset their carbon footprint in line with the UN's Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradaton scheme. Some of the proceeds from the sales are used to fund projects for the local community to give them alternative income other than clearing swathes of land for subsistence farming and charcoal burning. AFP PHOTO/Tony KARUMBA (Photo credit should read TONY KARUMBA/AFP via Getty Images)