Trees of Hope — Community Agroforestry Carbon (Malawi)

Established in 2007 by the Clinton Development Initiative (CDI) in partnership with Carbon Offsets To Alleviate Poverty (COTAP), Trees of Hope operates in the Dowa and Neno districts of central and southern Malawi, targeting smallholder farmers whose livelihoods depend heavily on degraded forest and agricultural lands.

Under the Plan Vivo Standard, farmers receive payment for ecosystem services based on verified agroforestry activities: boundary planting with indigenous hardwood species, mango orchards, and woodlots. Farmers are paid US$5 per verified tonne of CO2 equivalent upon certification, with at least 55% of carbon revenues distributed directly to participants. The project was developed with around 200 community producer groups and spans 488+ hectares plus 5,743 100m-unit boundary plantings.

Over the programme life, more than 2,000 farmers planted approximately 2 million trees — hardwoods, mango, and citrus — projected to sequester 200,000 tCO2e over the crediting period. By 2016, 875 farmers had received over US$100,000 from carbon credit sales, with 376 participating for the first time and many opening a bank account for the first time upon receiving payment.

The project received international recognition from the Clinton Foundation and was featured as a model for linking voluntary carbon markets with poverty reduction in smallholder communities.

Cautionary note: The project has fulfilled its PES agreement commitments and is no longer issuing new Plan Vivo Certificates; it remains in final monitoring and reporting obligations under the Plan Vivo registry. Allocation of new carbon credits is paused.

Read the full analysis: https://stories.clintonfoundation.org/cutting-carbon-and-alleviating-poverty-7de722949145