Tree-planting is the easy part. Everything around it is the work.
Anyone can plant a tree. Making sure it is still alive in ten years — that is the work.
Anyone can plant a tree. Making sure that tree is still alive in ten years, that the soil it sits in is healthier than it was, that the community around it benefits, and that the activities killing the surrounding ecosystem are being addressed in parallel — that is the work.
Climate & Green World Foundation runs four interlocking programs across Nigeria and the Sahel. Each one is designed to keep delivering benefit long after our direct involvement ends.
Five principles that shape every project.
01Community before planting.
We do not break ground on a project until the community that will live with it has co-designed it, agreed to it, and taken ownership of it. Top-down projects fail; we have seen it, and we will not repeat it.
02The right tree in the right place.
Monoculture plantations are not forests. We plant native species in native configurations, guided by local ecology and traditional knowledge.
03Restoration is bigger than reforestation.
Forests are only one kind of landscape. We also restore farmland, urban green spaces, and the ecosystems being eroded by petroleum pollution and unsafe land-use practices.
04The conversation matters as much as the planting.
Bush burning, charcoal production, and oil bunkering are not abstractions — they are decisions made by real people under real economic pressure. Sensitization — done with respect, not lecture — is core to our work.
05Measured in decades, not seasons.
Our minimum project horizon is ten years. Anything shorter is landscaping.
What gets measured gets managed.
We track every project against a common set of indicators and report on them annually. Our framework is built on FAO methodology, IPCC guidance, and AFR100 reporting protocols.
Tree & Biomass Growth
Survival rates, canopy development, above-ground biomass
Carbon Impact
Tonnes of CO₂eq drawn down or avoided, against baselines
Biodiversity Return
Species presence surveys, wildlife monitoring, habitat quality
Soil & Water Health
Soil organic carbon, water table recovery, erosion reduction
Community Outcomes
Household incomes, sensitization reach, women in leadership
Program Integrity
Cost per surviving tree, per hectare, funds to community
Year-One Impact Report
Our first annual report will be published at the close of foundation year 2025.