PROJECT Community Reforestation, East Africa
Sustainable Development Goals
Project Name:
Community Reforestation
Project Country:
East Africa
Standards:
CCB, VCS
Area Of Neutralizaton:
Agricultural, Forestry and landscapes
Price Per Tonne:
Project Description
Empowering 90,000 farmers across 4,000 villages to build sustainable livelihoods through community reforestation activity
The project organises community-based tree planting initiatives with over 12,000 small groups involving 90,000 farmers in Kenya and Uganda. Under traditional practices, farmers clear trees to increase available agricultural land, which erodes quality by removing nutrients from the soil. Forestry projects such as this combine carbon sequestration with sustainable development, helping to improve community livelihoods through education and training, and create additional sources of income beyond smallholder farming. In addition, carbon finance is paid to farmers for surviving trees. To date, over 15 million trees have been planted are alive, growing and being monitored because of the project.
In addition to delivering approximately 42,000 tonnes of emissions reductions annually to help take urgent action to combat climate change (SDG 13), the project delivers multiple other sustainable development benefits. These include:
- No Poverty: Agricultural training improves household crop yields and creates marketable commodities such as fruits, nuts, and honey.
- Zero Hunger: Nearly 50% of farmers have increased their food supply thanks to training on conservation farming. Yields increased between two and 10-fold with these agricultural improvements. In addition, 10% have planted fruit and nut trees after education about growing fruit trees and the importance of species that can provide other non-timber forest products – such as neem and moringa – which provide natural medicines and insecticides.
- Gender Equality: 42% of the members of small farming groups are women. Women are given access to leadership training and groups are encouraged to use a rotating leadership structure. This allows women to take on levels of managerial responsibility they may not have previously had.