Afforestation, Agroforestry, Assisted Natural Regeneration and Improved Land Management
Trees for Global Benefits (TGB) is a long-established community-led regeneration project that started in 2003 and now engages 50,000 people across 4 landscapes. C Level was with the project in 2025 and our film crew is creating a new film with the Ecotrust team and communities.
Supporting livelihoods, reforestation and forest corridors across rural Uganda
For over two decades, the project has supported farmers to grow and protect trees on their own land while earning performance-based payments for measured carbon outcomes. native species are planted in farm boundaries, woodlots and agroforestry systems. In addition, TGB improves soil fertility, water retention, food and fuel security and income levels. It also creates micro-enterprises at the village level.
Land Area
34285 ha
Project Status
scaling
Participants
51,874
Founding Partner & year
Ecotrust, 2003
Certified Under
Plan Vivo Climate
TCO₂ Total verified carbon removal
7,518,071
Project Type
Afforestation, Reforestation, Agroforestry, Assisted Natural Regeneration, Improved Land Management
Key Species
Chimpanzee, multiple mixed native tree species
How it works
Along with other Plan Vivo projects, Trees for Global Benefits operates through payments-for-ecosystem-services agreements with smallholder farmers. Participants receive upfront and performance-based payments as trees grow and verified carbon benefits accumulate, turning carbon sequestration into a reliable income stream.
Certified under the Plan Vivo – the world’s original carbon standard – ensures outcomes for nature, climate and communities are
What Makes This Project Special
Tens of thousands of rural farmers plant and manage trees on their own land uplifting their livelihoods, reducing pressure on existing forests and making large scale community driven carbon sequestration happen. It is the scale of this project and its long track record that stands out.
Agroforestry, not monoculture
Trees planted sequester carbon, but with TGB these are integrated with crops and farming systems – improving soil fertility, food security, shade, water regulation and long-term land productivity.
Landscape restoration at scale
Thousands of small plots all driving carbon squestration, connect into a large-scale restoration mosaic, strengthening ecosystems and watershed function across 4 landscapes – Queen Elizabeth & Murchison, Albertine, Mount Elgon, and Rwenzori Mountains.
Local institutions strengthened
Builds farmer groups, cooperatives and community governance capacity, leaving durable social infrastructure beyond the project lifecycle.
Scalable farmer-led model
Demonstrates how community carbon finance can work through existing agricultural systems rather than replacing them, bringing on board more and more villages and people as news about the benefits spreads.
Protecting biodiversity hotspots
The project is playing an important part in protecting biodiversity by taking pressure off remnant of rainsforest including the Budongo and Bugoma Forests the stronghold of the Eastern Chimpanzees.
Responding to Challenge
- Land use by farmers
Local and global challenges combine. As extreme weather events and heightened seasonal variations become more commonplace, the challenge is to reduce peoples vulnerability to drought, flood and landslides. The challenge is to make it viable for farmers to restore, not destroy forests. To achieve ecological and livelihood regeneration.
- Ecosystem connection
Mosaics of immensely rich biodiversity sit within mosaics of intensly farmed land and land given over to enterprise monocultures. The challenge is to regenerate not further degenerate nature as the foundation of viable villages and communities. Building corridors between remant pockets of rainforest is essential.
- Community food, fuel, and income security
Communities are threatened with food, fuel, and income insecurity as deforestation undermines the resilience of social and ecological systems. Deforestation creates a downward spiral as insecurity fuels further extraction from remaining forests.
Project Documentation
For a transparent overview of the project’s progress and impact, the latest annual report
is available for download.
Full technical documentation, including the Verification Statement and Project Design Document (PDD), is available to all partners through the dedicated Client Hub.