EcoPlanet Bamboo Central America Reforestation Project.
Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region, Nicaragua. The project that proved the model.
EcoPlanet’s founding project converted heavily degraded cattle pasture on Nicaragua’s Atlantic Coast into biodiverse bamboo forest, generating the world’s first accredited bamboo carbon under the Verified Carbon Standard. The project supports stable, decent year-round work in a region of historically high unemployment, and supports local health clinics with supplies and equipment.
First validated under the VCS in 2013 and most recently verified in 2021. Fully committed.
The first bamboo carbon project on the Verra registry.
This is the project that established that a bamboo forest on abandoned pastureland could be measured, verified and issued against the Verified Carbon Standard, and it remains the reference for everything EcoPlanet has built since.
From pasture to forest
The land was cattle pasture, grazed until it no longer supported much of anything. What stands there now is a biodiverse bamboo ecosystem, established from native Guadua and managed on a permanent footing rather than cleared and replanted.
What the jobs are worth
The region has a long history of high unemployment. The project supports stable, decent year-round work, and supports health clinics serving the surrounding communities with supplies and equipment.
Registration
Registered with Verra under VCS 1085, the first large-scale bamboo project on the registry.
Certification
Validated under the Verified Carbon Standard.
Verification history
First validated in 2013, most recently verified in 2021.
Status
Fully committed. No allocation is currently available for offtake.
Institutional backing
World Bank Group (MIGA) issued political-risk guarantees for the project in 2012, expanded in 2015.
Diligence pack
Full technical materials are available under NDA: the validated project design document, carbon accumulation model and monitoring plan.
What the project built around it.
Clinics, wages, and the fruit-tree and food-security programs around Río Calderón.
Formal work in the region
Formal paid work had been rare around Rio Siquia. The project brought stable, year-round jobs to the surrounding communities.
A decade of community partnership
A village drinking-water system, school repairs and teacher support, and farm infirmaries, shaped by local consultation from 2012 onward.
Thousands of hectares restored
By 2015 thousands of hectares of degraded land had been restored, with primary tropical forest set aside for conservation alongside it.
The full Nicaragua impact story →
These are a few spotlights from this project. EcoPlanet delivers community, workforce and ecosystem projects across all of its operations, with more underway. Explore the full range on our Empowering Communities page, or contact us to discuss extending impact alongside this project.
Degraded pasture, and what replaced it.
Before
AfterNicaragua, before planting and after restoration.