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Good practice Imported

Cabo Verde's Post-Independence National Afforestation Programme — From 3,000 to Over 90,000 Hectares

Cabo Verde · Praia · See the Cabo Verde profile · See the Praia profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 40% 47/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since independence in 1975, Cabo Verde has expanded afforested land from about 3,000 to over 90,000 hectares by 2011 — nearly 50 million trees — funded partly through food-for-work schemes, lifting national forest cover from 3.82% to 11.34% of land area.

~3,000 hectares
Afforested land, at independence (1975)
>90,000 hectares
Afforested land, by 2011 (2011)
~50 million trees
Trees planted (estimated) (1975-2011)
3.82 to 11.34 % of land area
National forest area, share of land (1990-2020)

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Cabo Verde Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, with FAO, WFP and EU support
Period
1975–present
Keywords
forestry, land degradation, desertification, water & soil conservation

Context

At independence in 1975, semi-arid Cabo Verde had almost no natural forest and only about 3,000 hectares of afforested land, and it faced worsening desertification after successive drought years in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The new government made reforestation and water and soil conservation a national priority, financing decades of tree-planting and terracing labour partly by internally commercializing international food aid — a food-for-work model that channelled donor resources into rural conservation employment from 1975 through the late 1990s.

Results

By 2011, afforested land had grown roughly thirtyfold to over 90,000 hectares with an estimated 50 million trees planted, concentrated on the islands of Santiago and Santo Antão. Independent FAOSTAT/World Bank data corroborate the trend, recording national forest area rising from 3.82% of land area in 1990 to 11.34% by 2020 — today more than 20% of the country is classed as afforested.

Conclusions

Much of the planted estate relies on fast-growing exotic species such as Prosopis juliflora and Eucalyptus camaldulensis rather than native highland forest, and a 2021-2025 FAO/EU-funded follow-on project (REFLOR-CV) was launched specifically because large parts of the original planted forest remain vulnerable to climate stress and weak management — the programme's scale is well evidenced, its long-term ecological resilience less so.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k) — Financed largely through in-kind food-for-work labour funded by international food aid (1975-late 1990s), plus ongoing FAO/WFP/EU technical support; no total programme budget figure is published.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Fifty years of continuous national programme activity (1975-present), with a dedicated 2021-2025 EU/FAO follow-on resilience project (REFLOR-CV).
Staffing & skills
Cabo Verde Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, national lead, FAO, WFP and EU, financing and technical support

Conditions for success

  • Sustained national political priority for reforestation across five decades
  • Food-for-work model converting international food aid into rural conservation employment (1975-late 1990s)
  • Continuous external support from FAO, WFP and the EU, including the 2021-2025 REFLOR-CV follow-on project

Common failure modes

  • Much of the planted estate relies on fast-growing exotic species (Prosopis juliflora, Eucalyptus camaldulensis) rather than native highland forest
  • Large parts of the original planted forest remain vulnerable to climate stress and weak management, prompting the REFLOR-CV follow-on project
  • No source reports directly measured carbon sequestration tonnes despite the scale of tree cover gained

Where it fits

Governance type
national government programme with sustained multilateral (FAO/WFP/EU) support
Scale
national (multi-island)
Income level
lower-middle-income (Cabo Verde)

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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