The word’s forestlands are fundamental in climate regulation, and their ability to effectively capture carbon can play a pivotal role in climate change mitigation. This project empowers small-scale farmers in rural India by providing the financial and economic resources to transform wasteland into fertile forestland. This has the dual benefit of sequestering carbon while providing new economic opportunity for rural communities.
Rural landowners with plots of poor, degrading soil are often unable to effectively farm their land. This reforestation project fights against soil erosion and land degradation by transforming small plots of wasteland into fertile and productive forest that can effectively sequester carbon. New forest land reduces pressure on natural forest for local fuel and timber, protecting natural habitat.
Eucalyptus trees have been planted on 15,000 hectares of land from 12,437 separate small plots throughout Orissa, Andhar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, India.
The Eucalyptus tree was selected due to its ability to withstand drought, quick growth and coppicing qualities.
By planting new trees, reforestation also provides new sources of income and livelihood for rural areas. Following guidelines of sustainable woodland management by the Farm Forestry Scheme, this project creates empowering employment for farmers who can grow and responsibly harvest from Eucalyptus forests.
Additionally, farmers are educated on important forestry management and actives such as site preparation, seedling transportation, planting, and maintenance that can provide new job opportunities for the local community. Through this, the project promotes effective carbon capture, while also supporting social development goals in the region.
This project is registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The project is a public-private partnership between Mangalam Timber Products Limited (MTPL) and the Indian National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). For more information and reports visit the UN here.
