In the lush landscapes of Laos, you will find one of our flagship portfolio projects, Burapha Agroforestry. Since 2016, this nature-based project has been on a mission for mitigation – it is determined to restore degraded lands and capture carbon from the earth’s atmosphere.
Nature-based climate solutions work with the natural world to limit the consequences of our global climate crisis. These projects conserve and restore ecosystems, including terrestrial forests, coastal mangroves and expansive grassland habitats. Burapha Agroforestry, as its name suggests, focuses first on forests.
Burapha’s plantations are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council with plans to plant 1,111 trees on each hectare of land inside a 60,000-hectare restoration zone. Do the maths; it’s an impressive ambition.
To ensure maximum impact, the project strategically focuses these restoration efforts on the most degraded areas in western and central Laos. Often, these are places that were previously used for intensive agriculture and where the soil is most depleted.
In targeting sites of intensive agriculture, Burapha is systematically replacing these methods with sustainable agroforestry, including intercropping and integrated cattle grazing. The project has created 4,400 new full-time agroforestry positions and offers eight million hours of casual labour opportunities. In this way, the project creates new employment prospects for local people while simultaneously supporting global climate mitigation efforts.
When planted to full capacity, Burapha’s trees will remove more than 28,000 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, every year. The project also considers the need for biodiverse landscape with 12,000 hectares of land designated specifically for conservation, providing a sanctuary for numerous native species including gibbons, Asiatic black bears, and the critically endangered pangolin.
As the world grapples with an escalating climate crisis, Burapha Agroforestry is an innovative, nature-based climate solution. Not only does the project provide urgently needed carbon sequestration, but it also supports biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development in Laos. There’s no doubt – we need nature to ensure a liveable future for all.
