Good practice

Luangwa Community Forests Project (Zambia)

Zambia · Chipata · See the Zambia profile

Africa's largest REDD+ project: BioCarbon Partners protects 2.1M ha of Zambian miombo woodland with 30 chiefdoms and 230,000 people. VCS+CCB 4th verification 2024; ~2.79M tCO2e/yr; USD 30M World Bank ERPA; 55% of carbon revenue flows to communities.

2.1M ha

Woodland protected

230,000

People benefiting

~2.79M tCO2e/yr

Avoided emissions

USD 30M

World Bank ERPA value

Luangwa Community Forests Project (Zambia)

Details

Maturity: Established
Promoter: BioCarbon Partners (BCP)
Period: 2014-present
Keywords: Miombo woodland, carbon, REDD+

Context

The Luangwa Community Forests Project, run by BioCarbon Partners, is Africa's largest REDD+ project, protecting Zambian miombo woodland with 30 chiefdoms.

Results

It protects 2.1 million ha for 230,000 people, with around 2.79 million tCO2e avoided per year (4th VCS+CCB verification in 2024), a USD 30 million World Bank ERPA, and 55% of carbon revenue flowing to communities.

Implementation

Implementation detail (cost, timeline, staffing, conditions for success) is not yet available for this practice.

Data sources

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

C-NAPSE web research — accessed 2026-06-20
BioCarbon Partners (BCP) — accessed 2026-06-20
BioCarbon Partners -- Luangwa project page — accessed 2026-06-20
Kinship Fellows 2024 -- BCP Africa scaling report — accessed 2026-06-20

Attachments

Quality score: 67/100

How is this calculated?

Evidence: Observational / pre–post

Top 8% in this catalogue (335 scored practices)

Scores cluster high, so position within the catalogue is often more telling than the number alone.

Evaluation

Evaluated by C-NAPSE

Score profile — the dimensions behind the score — how it's computed

Carbon — sequestration / storage, evidenced3/3

VCS+CCB 4th consecutive verification 2024; ~2.79M tCO2e/yr; 28.9M tCO2 lifetime; USD 30M World Bank ERPA for 3M tCO2e confirms additionality.

Biodiversity — conservation / improvement, evidenced2/3

CCB certified, including 15,000 ha Mpanshya Wildlife Corridor (2021); wildlife-rich Luangwa Valley; species-level recovery metrics not separately published.

Water & soil — retention, infiltration, erosion control1/3

Miombo woodland protection conserves watershed services, but water is not a primary payment mechanism or independently measured service.

Fire resilience — risk reduction, evidenced1/3

Agricultural encroachment is the primary deforestation driver; wildfire is not a stated objective or quantified co-benefit.

Governance, certification & transferability3/3

VCS+CCB 4th consecutive verification 2024; Environmental Finance Best Offsetting Project 2021 and 2023; 30 chiefdoms as formal partners; World Bank ERPA 2024.

Cite this

Evidoria. Luangwa Community Forests Project (Zambia). Persistent ID: 28f15d5b-d790-48d1-804b-464bf937a0bb.

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