Keeling Curve

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Project Summary / Description:

Registered as a certified Plan Vivo project in 2010, the CommuniTree Carbon Program uses reforestation to restore ecosystems, improve livelihoods, and reverse climate change. Co-founded by Taking Root and local NGO, APRODEIN, CommuniTree works with smallholder farmers to grow trees alongside their existing farming practices. It has grown to become the largest reforestation initiative in the country, and has been featured by the UN and EU for its best practices in reforestation.

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Sustainable Development Goals:

Impact on Underrepresented Groups:

CommuniTree empowers climate vulnerable communities across Nicaragua to build livelihood resilience by growing trees alongside their existing agricultural practices. The project connects smallholder farmers to the carbon market so they can grow trees and get paid for the carbon they remove from the atmosphere. 

Farmers receive 60% of carbon revenue from the program, with $33m USD of carbon financing currently being distributed across 4,202 farming families. Along with new, diversified income streams from carbon and forestry products, farmers benefit from improved soil quality, replenished aquifers and shade cover to build on-farm resilience for their agricultural practices. 

A further 20% of carbon revenue supports a 173-person local workforce, of which 53% identify as female. This team delivers over 10,000 training sessions a year to engage farmers in climate focused activities, organizes university outreach programs to educate the country’s youth and provides thousands of landless farmers with seasonal employment each year.

As some of the world’s most climate vulnerable communities, the project is dedicated to giving smallholder farmers a voice on the global stage. The project has been presented to and gained recognition from the EU, UN, and World Economic Forum as a model for restoring forests with smallholder farmers at scale.