Subtropical Thicket Restoration — Carbon-Finance-Backed Spekboom Recovery in South Africa's Karoo

South Africa's Subtropical Thicket Restoration Programme began in 2004 with about $8 million of government investment to replant spekboom (Portulacaria afra), a hardy succulent that historically formed dense thicket across the semi-arid Eastern Cape before more than a century of goat overgrazing stripped much of it bare. Spekboom stores carbon in its leaves, roots and the surrounding soil, and restoring thicket cover is credited by the UN Environment Programme with 'extremely high' biodiversity benefits for the region's endemic flora and fauna.
Restoration has accelerated sharply in the last three years: government-led planting grew from about 2,000 to roughly 30,000 hectares, private developers added a further 25,000 hectares, and more than 60 entities are now working across an estimated 800,000 hectares in total. Individual operators report fast growth — Nat Carbon has planted 10,000 hectares in two years and is planning 100,000 hectares across five farms, while EcoPlanet Bamboo has planted 3,000 of a targeted 10,300 hectares.
In 2024 the World Bank structured a 14-year outcome bond to fund a 10,000-hectare first phase (with a planned expansion to 50,000 hectares), backed by capital from GenZero, Mirova, Rubicon Carbon and Bregal Sphere, placed by BNP Paribas, with Amazon committing to buy carbon removal units at a fixed price over multiple decades — a deal credited with giving other financiers confidence to back the sector. Developers project the restoration could bring roughly $500 million into local farming communities over 40 years through wages, land rental, carbon-credit revenue sharing and small-business development. In December 2025 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration named 'Thicket Restoration in South Africa' a World Restoration Flagship, its highest recognition, citing UNEP's estimate that full thicket revival could sequester up to 8 million tonnes of CO2 annually — comparable to the emissions of about 20 gas-fired power plants — alongside water-security and habitat benefits, with a transformation target of 800,000 hectares by 2030.
Independent reporting is candid about the strains of this rapid scale-up. Jan Vlok of the Rhodes Restoration Research Group warns that some companies plant spekboom at 100% density — which he calls 'forestation' rather than restoration — against a recommended 70-80% cover or lower depending on site conditions. Projects reportedly operate in silos with little shared protocol knowledge, and payment of workers through contractor intermediaries has in some cases caused wage disputes. A separate 2026 Mongabay investigation described the sector's accountability as running on 'closed books', with corporate investment claims difficult for outsiders to verify and real risk if projects overpromise carbon removal beyond what the underlying science can support.

Read the full analysis: https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2025-12-04-sas-awardwinning-thicket-project-on-tracn-track-to-create-100000-jobs-and-revive/