Forest Twinning
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What is the FT Initiative?
Forest Twinning Initiative is a long-term programme to support an economy that sustains forest guardianship. We have co-designed this initiative for large-scale funding of indigenous led forest restoration by:​
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Creating a twinning network of ancestral and primary forests stewarded by indigenous guardians who are legal owners of the land.
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​Establishing the financial architecture to support a forest guardian economy with agile mechanisms to transfer funds to cohesive communities on the ground.
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​Building administrative capacity through an international team.​
NIGERIA: Kano Tree Hub
NIGERIA: Yarmariya Bush
CHILE: Araucarias de Quinquen
PHILIPPINES: Mindanao Ancestral Forests
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Objectives
The overall goal of this project is to secure the future of planetary forest cover, by creating an initiative of planetary collective forest restoration.
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Financial Objectives
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High carbon credit revenue for 10 forest guardianships from trees planted over the course of the programme lifecycle (we propose a 20+ year contract).
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Seed fund of £60K to kickstart the projects with funds for several objectives, specifically reforestation, the training of project managers and the transition to different forms of agroforestry food production.
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An attractive ROI for the impact investor.
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An increasing stream of income from new bioeconomic activities over the course of the contract to replace the carbon credit income at the end of the project.
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Attractive possibilities for biodiversity credits across various sites in this consortium working on rewilding (e.g., Moor Barton).
Environmental and climate objectives
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Enhance biodiversity: Protection and regeneration of forests increases biodiversity, including increase of bird and wildlife. Forested areas improve river systems leading to regeneration of areas propitious for rewilding and reintroduction of native species.
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Achieve soil restoration: forests are vital to the replenishing of fertile soils, and soils capable of storing carbon.
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Rejuvenate the Water cycle: forests recycle water up to 6 times, for instance in mist and rainforests such as Floresta Cadoz, Mindanao, Bodo Swamp and parts of the Dartmoor Atlantic Rainforest in Dartmoor. Conservancy of water leads to restoration of climate patterns (rainfall) and water retention, which prevents droughts and floods.
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Cultural and Social Objectives
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Build indigenous peoples’ communities’ capacity through trainings and workshops on agroforestry, ancestral lands reforestation and multisectoral partnerships.
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Strengthen the tribal councils, governance and its rules and policies pertaining to the protection of the forest landscapes and wildlife through creation of community and multi sectoral agreement with sacred ritual ceremonies for the holistic protection of the ecosystem.
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Establish partnerships with relevant government bodies
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Lobby policies and laws to legislative decision-making body for the urgent needs to mitigate deforestation and wildlife trading.
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Develop indigenous and Western science-based resources inventory with academic partners to enhance decision making
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Influence behavioral changes by utilizing multiple media sources to campaign for the protection of the ecosystems and to reforest the denuded landscapes.
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Provide community base sustainable livelihoods and enterprise to reduce deforestation
FTI is a groundbreaking collaboration between Guardians Worldwide and 10 different indigenous or ancestral.
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Ancestral Forest of Bukidnon and Agusan, Mindanao, Philippines 400,000 hectares
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Mau Forest, Nakuru, Kenya 104, 995 hectares
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Vagad Forest Rajasthan State, India 50,000 hectares
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Araucaria Forest Fundo Galletué-Quinquén, Lonquimay, Chile 26,510 hectares
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Yarmariya Bush Kano State, Nigeria 20,000 hectares
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Bodo and Yataah Mangrove Forests, Rivers State, Nigeria 1,400 hectares
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Floresta Cadoz de Cima, Sergipe State, Brazil 567 hectares
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Moor Barton Wood, Dartmoor National Park, Devon, UK 50 hectares
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Great North Wood urban forest, London, UK 3 hectares
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Old Beard’s Wood, West Sussex, UK 3 hectares
Our initiative totals 603,531 hectares of prime forest cover, across 7 countries.
We are focusing on degraded and denuded areas that urgently need reforestation. Keystone, pioneer and fruit trees (natives) are vital to this restoration effort.
Our pledge
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To plant 11.5 million more trees in the next 3 years across 7 different countries with 105,000 indigenous families, and to collect a seed bank of 10,000 seeds + community inventories (56 native species)
FTI covers the following key bioregions/premium forest biomes:
Brazilian Atlantic rainforest, only 9-11% of historical forest remains.
Central India forest belt, only 39% of historical CIFB remains.
North Guinea savannah belt: crucial to stop desertification, threatened by overgrazing.
Niger Delta Mangrove: declared the most sensitive and degraded ecosystem on earth.
High Andes Araucaria Forest: declared ‘extremely threatened’ due to dieback disease.
East African montane forest: largest indigenous forest in East Africa
Mindanao montane rainforest: highly threated and unique forest ecosystem
UK Temperate Forest after Ireland and Holland, UK is the most deforested country in Europe.