Ten Successful Years of Taking Root

The Arbor Day Foundation partners with Taking Root through its CommuniTree program in Nicaragua. A certified Plan Vivo project, its model has been used as a best-practice reforestation solution by organizations including the United Nations and the European Union and has become the largest reforestation initiative in Nicaragua. Taking Root wants to create a more sustainable future by restoring forest ecosystems with smallholder farmers. This is done by connecting impact buyers to farmers on the ground and creating financial incentives for farmers to grow trees. Those farmers are helping to grow native tree species on historically deforested farmland.

Farmer Eliza Perez

Together, the Arbor Day Foundation and Taking Root are helping to build financial security and sustainable livelihoods by reforesting previously underused land. Because of Taking Root’s unique technology, this project provides unparalleled transparency in its environmental and social impacts.

According to Taking Root's annual report from 2020, they went from working with 22 farmers in 2010 to over 1,300 in the last ten years and have become the most extensive reforestation effort in Nicaragua, covering the equivalent of over 6,800 football fields.

Farmer Mauricio Maradiaga Gonzales from Zurzular, Macuelizo

Taking Root has built hundreds of tree nurseries across the region which in turn aids in job creation because those trees need to be planted across the areas of work in Nicaragua. This reforestation effort led to an incredible 10 million trees being planted while creating thousands of local jobs.

Taking Root uses a data-driven approach to help farmers increase yields. They developed FARM-TRACE, which uses local, remote sensing, and machine learning data to automate forest and carbon reporting. Monitoring this data normally requires the use of experts, making it cost-prohibitive for smallholder farmers to reforest their land. FARM-TRACE uses technology to make it much more cost-efficient, helping more smallholder farmers gain access to global funding.

Hired Worker by farmer Mario Calix Hernandez in the Guaylo Region San Juan de Limay

Beyond supporting the local community, the forests contain a rich ecosystem, with more than 100 native tree species, tropical birds, and numerous ground animals. This program is empowering communities while establishing thriving, biodiverse habitats designed to aid in the fulfillment of carbon credits.

Farmer Mario Calix Hernandez from Guaylo, San Juan de Limay

These reforestation efforts create valuable new sources of income for rural communities through verified carbon credits, local forest enterprises, and a plethora of agricultural products. Some of the carbon credits are used by major corporations like Microsoft as they work to become carbon negative. The partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation allows farmers and major corporations to work together at scale.

Farmer Training Workshop

In the annual report for 2020 Taking Root details how they aim to build community participation through existing methods and the development of new methods. Their success over the past ten years has been made feasible by putting communities’ and farmers’ needs first and creating long-lasting, trusting relationships to find localized forest solutions that can be used to implement widespread changes in the way local farmers farm.

We are excited to continue growing our partnership with Taking Root thanks to the support of our committed corporate partners. To learn about some of the work being done, read our recent partnership announcement.

Visit https://takingroot.org/ to learn more