Nguru Forest Landscape Restoration Project (Mvomero, Tanzania)

In Tanzania's South Nguru Mountains, part of the Eastern Arc biodiversity hotspot, the PAMS Foundation and Dutch NGO Trees for All began the Nguru Forest Landscape Restoration Project in 2021, working with smallholder farmers on degraded land bordering the Mkingu Forest Nature Reserve. Sokoine University of Agriculture provides technical support, and the project is independently validated against the Plan Vivo Carbon Standard.

Farmers sign 30-year leases (0.2-1.6 ha plots) to plant native rainforest tree seedlings on their land, with Plan Vivo's benefit-sharing rules guaranteeing a minimum 51% share of future carbon revenue to farmers to offset lost cropland and cash-crop income during restoration.

Phase 1 has planted over 270,000 tree seedlings across 16 native species on 200 hectares of farmland, with more than 100 farmers under lease. The project design anticipates roughly 35,000 carbon credits, validated against the Plan Vivo standard, though this reflects a validated projection rather than multi-year verified issuance.

Phase 1 covers only 200 of the 6,200 hectares eventually planned across 31 villages, so most of the anticipated carbon and biodiversity benefit still depends on scaling to a much larger number of farmer contracts, with Phase 2 targeting a further 300 hectares.