Through TIST farmers gather in small local groups responsible for replanting the cut-down trees.
In Kenya, a lot of forests has been cut down to create fields for agriculture. Over the years, the fields have produced a lot of food, but without the forest, the soil erodes, and slowly the areas are depleted, losing all the mud land. This results in the farmers being forced to move on to new land, having to cut down new trees for new agricultural fields.
Through TIST (The International Small Group and Tree Planting Program), farmers gather in small local groups responsible for replanting the cut-down trees.
The farmers plant trees. The trees generate carbon credits. The credits are sold. The farmers get money. It’s a simple idea, but the results are overwhelming.
More than 60,000 farmers in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are now involved, and more than 10 million trees have been planted. In addition to generating income for the farmers and ensuring the quality of the land, the project also has many secondary benefits.
It strengthens gender equality in the areas with more than 35,000 women out of the total 60,000 farmers, it fights HIV / AIDS and educates the local population.
With handheld computers and GPS, the trees are registered directly on the internet. Ones in a while, the farmers receive money if their trees haven’t been cut down.
Read more on their website here
TIST won the 2016 Environmental Finance award and the 2017 Reilley award. It’s the world’s first project to be verified by both VCS (Verified Carbon Standard) and CCBA Gold Level (Climate Community and Biodiversity Alliance).
This means that the project is continuously monitored to ensure that the forest is protected and preserved, and that everything is as it should be.
Navigating the market for carbon credits can also be a challenge due to expensive resellers and non-certified projects.
Our job at Climaider is to select the best projects that are verified by the most strict industry standards (e.g. Gold Standard and Verified Carbon Standard) and our own internal criteria.
By gathering our member’s money, we are able to buy big bulks of credits directly from the projects, cutting out expensive middlemen. This also enables us to follow the money from you, as a member, to the projects, ensuring that your membership is removing as much carbon as we promise.
In addition to offsetting, you also plant 15 trees for every ton of carbon you offset. The trees are planted in our forest on Madagascar through our partnership with Eden Reforestation Project
The locals in Ankilahila are hired to plant mangrove trees, which are a type of tree that absorbs 4-5 times as much CO2 as normal trees. The project restores the forest, but is also helping people out of extreme poverty.
As a member, you offset your emissions by buying carbon credits from our current climate project. One carbon credit equals the removal of 1 ton of carbon.
This means that if you buy one carbon credit, you remove or avoid one ton of carbon from entering the atmosphere.