Scaling Reforestation from the Ground Up: A 15-year Case Study from Nicaragua
About This Session
Join the Nature Tech Collective for an in-depth NTC Now conversation with Taking Root, exploring how technology-enabled project development can connect thousands of smallholder farmers to carbon markets while delivering high-integrity, scalable reforestation.
This session will spotlight Taking Root’s longest-running Community Project in Nicaragua - a 15+ year reforestation initiative built from the ground up with smallholder farmers on degraded land. What began as a grassroots effort has evolved into a 20,000-hectare program supported by a 200-person field team, underpinned by a purpose-built digital platform that manages operations, monitoring, and reporting across thousands of disaggregated land parcels.
Through a concrete case study, we’ll explore how Taking Root’s technology has evolved from basic data collection to end-to-end operational intelligence - enabling credible carbon credit issuance, transparent benefit sharing, and continuous optimisation of tree growth and project performance.
Key Topics We’ll Cover
Reforestation at Scale with Smallholder Farmers
Learn how Taking Root works with 1,000–2,000 new farmers each year, using a co-investment model that combines carbon finance with short-, medium-, and long-term economic incentives to support sustainable livelihoods.
From Field Operations to Carbon Markets
Explore how Taking Root connects farmers to carbon finance by managing the full project lifecycle — from farmer recruitment and land eligibility to contracting, payments, and long-term monitoring.
Technology Built for Disaggregated Landscapes
Dive into Taking Root’s mobile and web platform, designed to operate across thousands of small parcels, enabling field teams to map land boundaries, track activities, collect geo-located evidence, and monitor tree growth.
Ground-Truthing Carbon Integrity
Understand how field data, remote sensing, and sampling protocols are combined to ensure credit quality, durability, and transparency - backed by more than a decade of operational experience.
Reporting Value for Buyers & Investors
See how Taking Root translates complex field and monitoring data into quarterly data extracts and annual reports that give carbon credit off-takers confidence in both climate impact and social outcomes.
From Tracking to Optimisation: The Next Frontier
Hear how Taking Root is evolving its platform toward AI-driven insights and recommendations — moving beyond reporting to proactively improving tree growth, survival rates, and project outcomes at scale.
Who Should Attend
Carbon credit buyers and sustainability leaders seeking high-integrity removals
Nature tech companies building field data, MRV, or operational platforms
Investors and financiers supporting scalable nature-based solutions
Reforestation and land-use practitioners working with smallholder farmers
Corporates with supply chain or land-based climate strategies
Researchers and standards stakeholders focused on carbon integrity
Part of the “Nature Tech in Action” Series
This session is part of NTC’s Nature Tech in Action series, spotlighting real-world case studies where nature tech moves from concept to deployment — showcasing what it takes to operationalise projects, scale partnerships, and deliver measurable, credible climate and nature outcomes.
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