The world’s forests are disappearing at an alarming rate, and efforts to restore them need to move faster. To address this urgent global challenge, Canadian project developer Taking Root and US nonprofit Plant With Purpose have formed a strategic partnership aimed at accelerating the restoration of the world’s forests while improving smallholder farmer livelihoods.

Why focus on smallholder farmers?

The greatest area suitable for forest restoration is on agricultural land owned and managed by the world’s 570 million small scale farmers. Many of these farmers represent some of the most vulnerable communities in the world to the effects of the climate crisis.

If farmers could be incentivized to grow trees alongside their existing agricultural practices, they could play a pivotal role in climate change mitigation while restoring local ecosystems and building livelihood resilience. However, many farmers face barriers when making land-use choices in favor of growing trees. The global carbon market’s demand for high quality carbon removals represents an opportunity. Farmers could grow trees and get paid for the carbon they remove from the atmosphere, creating the necessary incentives so it is worthwhile for them to restore their land. However, it has traditionally been too costly and complex for farmers to access the carbon market, driving farmers to pursue land-use opportunities which are unsustainable in the long-term.

A partnership to improve livelihoods by growing trees

Taking Root and Plant With Purpose have come together to break down these barriers so farmers can access the carbon market, with the shared goal of accelerating global forest restoration and improving smallholder livelihoods.

“By combining our unique strengths and resources, Taking Root and Plant With Purpose are poised to drive meaningful change and restore forests at scale in partnership with smallholder farmers,” said Taking Root’s CEO, Kahlil Baker PhD.

This sentiment was echoed by Milmer Martinez Vergara, Plant With Purpose’s Vice President of International Programs. “Our partner farmers are driving the change towards restored ecosystems and climate change mitigation. As direct users of biodiversity and ecosystems they are in a strategic position to advance a solution,” said Martinez Vergara. “Their access to carbon credit markets creates the opportunity to scale this process and add a layer of resilience to their livelihood by being paid for their contributions.”

Plant With Purpose brings a network of projects spanning nine different countries, focusing on partnering with farming communities to address two of the world’s most critical challenges: global poverty and environmental degradation. These projects are already generating incredible impacts on a local and global scale, significantly reducing poverty and environmental damage, and are now seeking additional financing to further grow their impact.

Taking Root enables smallholder farmers to access the carbon market, with a proven track record of developing and managing large-scale smallholder forest carbon projects. Taking Root will provide Plant With Purpose with its combined set of services and cutting-edge technology platform to successfully develop, operate and bring to market the next generation of high integrity forest carbon removal projects with smallholder farmers.

Through this partnership, the two organizations aim to identify opportunities for high quality carbon removal projects that simultaneously improve farmer livelihoods, remove carbon from the atmosphere, and restore local ecosystems. The collaboration has already begun in the Dominican Republic, which is serving as a replicable model for how Taking Root and Plant With Purpose plan to develop and scale forest restoration programs with smallholder farmers around the world.

“Our pilot project in the Dominican Republic with Taking Root is demonstrating the viability and scalability of this approach and its benefits for our local program and partner farmers,” continued Martinez Vergara. “With continued success, we will look to expand the program, potentially supporting our partners in other countries as well.”

Taking Root’s CGO, Meredith Karazin, added: “Our partnership with Plant With Purpose in the Dominican Republic has already brought about 500,000 trees planted, with 237 farmers, contributing to the restoration of essential watersheds. The Plant With Purpose on-the-ground team has a great understanding of the local community and agroforestry practices, providing a strong foundation to explore the carbon potential to benefit more farmers in the future.”

Plant With Purpose and Taking Root are currently working with philanthropic funders, carbon retailers and climate financiers to accelerate the development of new projects. If you are interested in learning more, please contact info@takingroot.org.