Enviro News Asia, Kenya – A new international partnership has been launched to accelerate large-scale landscape restoration and strengthen climate resilience across Africa, as global efforts intensify to address land degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change. The Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) has formally partnered with restoration-focused company TERRAGRN to expand a science-based model that integrates ecological restoration with economic development.
The partnership was announced in late January 2026 and spans multiple regions, including Kenya, the United Kingdom, and South Africa, with an initial focus on scaling restoration outcomes in southern Africa. Through this collaboration, CIFOR-ICRAF and TERRAGRN aim to replicate and expand proven restoration systems that combine regenerative land use, climate mitigation, and sustainable livelihoods.
The collaboration builds on CIFOR-ICRAF’s long-standing scientific leadership in landscape restoration and TERRAGRN’s experience in commercial-scale regenerative agriculture. Together, the partners will deploy an integrated delivery model that links research, field implementation, monitoring systems, and market-based financing mechanisms to ensure long-term environmental and economic viability.
At the center of the partnership is the Mpumalanga Restoration Programme in South Africa, where regenerative agroforestry systems have already been implemented and managed with local communities. The initiative has supported the rehabilitation of degraded cropland and grasslands, while contributing to food security, job creation, and ecosystem recovery.
“By combining scientific rigor with a commercially viable delivery model, this partnership demonstrates how restoration can be implemented at scale while remaining economically sustainable,” said the Director General of CIFOR-ICRAF. He emphasized that the collaboration strengthens the pathway from research to real-world impact, ensuring restoration efforts deliver measurable climate and livelihood benefits.
The Chief Executive Officer of TERRAGRN stated that the partnership provides a strong foundation for scaling restoration beyond pilot projects. “This collaboration allows us to integrate science, finance, and local participation into a single framework that can be expanded across regions facing similar land degradation challenges,” he said.
Under the agreement, CIFOR-ICRAF will lead on scientific design, restoration typologies, and environmental monitoring, while TERRAGRN will focus on delivery systems, value-chain development, and blended finance structures. The model includes the use of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems, combining field data, remote sensing, and digital platforms to track ecological and climate outcomes.
The partnership also seeks to mobilize long-term capital by developing revenue streams from sustainable commodities, ecosystem services, and climate-aligned investments. This approach is intended to reduce dependence on short-term funding and support financially resilient restoration initiatives.
In the coming decade, CIFOR-ICRAF and TERRAGRN plan to build a portfolio of high-integrity restoration programs that contribute to national climate commitments, biodiversity targets, and rural development goals. The partners stated that the model is designed to be replicated across Africa and other regions where degraded landscapes present both environmental risks and economic opportunities.
