This project is part of the explorer.land project stage at NOAH Zurich (6-7th Dec) that aims to facilitate investments & funding towards impactful restoration and conservation projects.
Investment need: ~ US$75 million (10 years)
Restoration potential: 1 million hectares
Social impact: 18,000 people engaged to date
About
Acción Andina was co-founded in 2018 by Global Forest Generation and Peru-based conservation organization ECOAN. It is a Latin-American-led, native forest landscape restoration initiative aiming to restore and protect one million hectares of high Andean, native forest ecosystems in Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Over the last 4.5 years, Acción Andina has grown into a major, multi-country restoration initiative with demonstrated restoration and conservation results. It already offers an attractive opportunity to engage in high-quality nature-based solutions, but its future potential and scale are what truly define its value.
Speaker: Florent Kaiser
CEO Global Forest Generation
Acción Andina is the proof that true community led restoration can reach the scale we need to restore our planet’s vital ecosystems. In just four years, we have grown a network of grassroots restoration leaders into a 18,000 people movement, reforesting millions of trees each year, conserving the last standing forests of the high Andes and providing income to local and indigenous communities while restoring their lands and preserving their culture.”
To date, Acción Andina has:
- United 13 local partners across 20 restoration landscapes, supported over 30 restoration leaders working with 100+ local and indigenous communities and is actively engaging 18,000 people.
- Conserved and put under long-term restoration approximately 30,000 hectares using multiple conservation and restoration techniques, including the reforestation of 6.5 million native trees.
- Has raised US$ 8,404,302 and deployed locally US $11,007,620 (including projections through June 2023 and locally-matched fundraising).
Investments for scaling up
Acción Andina is a regional restoration movement across the Andes that is driven by local communities and leaders. It is our goal to build the foundations needed so that it is cost-effective and sustainable in the long term. As the lead strategic partner, Global Forest Generation takes a phased approach to scaling.
- Phase (2018-2023): in the incubation phase, Acción Andina successfully launched in five countries (expecting to add Venezuela and Colombia in 2023), and prepared for massive scaling.
- Phase (2023-2030): will see decentralization of the initiative’s governance and funding, and developing the financial infrastructure needed to absorb large private sector funding (including Payment for Ecosystem Services).
- Phase(2030-2045): will see a fully built initiative, including massive scaling of restoration and the landscapes approach. It will incorporate different conservation models (e.g., agroforestry, ecosystem credits), as Acción Andina becomes a self-propagating social movement leading to the restoration and conservation of one million hectares of high Andean forests.
