Wren | Community agroforestry in Timor-Leste
Archived
Community agroforestry in Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste · $46.68USD per tonne
Jun 2025: Archived due to lack of available credits for purchase. The door is open for this project to re-enter the portfolio in the future when there is sufficient supply to match Wren's demand.
This project empowers smallholder farmers in Timor-Leste to restore degraded ecosystems through reforestation and improved land management.
Timor-Leste, the newest country in Southeast Asia, is a small island nation particularly vulnerable to climate change's environmental and social effects. The majority of Timor-Leste’s population is rural and 70% of the population is heavily dependent on agriculture. Moreover, nearly a quarter of the population lives on less than $2.15 a day. It’s clear sustainable and equitable development initiatives like this one are needed to address compounding socioeconomic and environmental challenges.
Smallholder farmers benefit from the trees they plant and manage.
Through this project, smallholder farmers benefit from the trees they plant and manage – they earn additional income via the sale of carbon credits, gain valuable agroforestry and soil management skills, and see increased crop yield due to improved ecosystem health.
Two farmers tend to seedlings in a nursery in Timor-Leste.
How does it work?
The Halo Verde Timor Community Forest Carbon project works to address deforestation, land degradation, and biodiversity loss in Timor-Leste. Deforestation and land degradation are largely driven by population growth and unsustainable agricultural practices such as slash-and-burn cultivation, illegal logging, fuelwood harvesting, and fire. Environmental issues compound socioeconomic ones, making it critical to support initiatives like this one.
Farmers earn 50% more income via the sale of carbon credits and increased agricultural yields.
Our project partner, Fundação Carbon Offset Timor (FCTOI) meets with communities to understand local needs: Together they agree on how the project is governed and how funds from the sale of carbon credits are distributed
Farmers choose which species of trees to plant: As of 2023, over 1,600 farmers have planted over 450,000 trees on 151 hectares of land, with plans to plant even more
Farmers receive training on soil management: They learn terracing, composting, and fire prevention techniques that improve soil health and carbon storage
The community helps nature restore itself through Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration: This encourages natural seedling propagation, reduces erosion, and improves water retention
Carbon sequestration rates are annually verified and validated: A third-party auditor travels to the project site to ensure greenhouse gas accounting is accurate
Farmers earn 50% more income: Via the sale of carbon credits and increased agricultural yields from agroforestry practices, communities financially benefit from activities that help our whole planet through carbon sequestration
A mature Fijian Longan tree planted and cared for by a local farmer in Timore-Leste provides shade for crops and produces edible fruit for farmers to sell.
Why this project?
We love this project for many reasons:
Community-driven: FCTOI began developing trust-based relationships with the community in 2010, distributing information at community events and building open lines of communication. Regular community consultation meetings take place and farmers lead a Project Steering Committee to ensure community-led project governance. This participatory approach means the local customs and land tenure are respected, gender equity is ensured, and community input and grievances are heard.
Improves lives: The project is designed to maximize livelihood benefits for the local community. By linking tree planting and sustainable forest management with other livelihood benefits, project permanence is increased. The sale of carbon credits is just one income stream the community benefits from. Other livelihood benefits for participating farmers include:
Increased food and agricultural production through agroforestry practices: Mixing trees with crops improves agricultural yields. Coffee is grown in shade provided by canopy trees. Living fences increase the area in which livestock can sustainably graze. Staple crops like cassava, corn, and pineapples grow well alongside the newly planted trees.
Improved financial assets and incomes: In addition to carbon finance, farmers earn income from selling tree saplings, organic produce, and non-timber forest products like honey. Improving the health of their ecosystems increases the value of their land while financial literacy programs help farmers invest in physical assets like homes, and build savings.
Enhanced Environmental Services: Improvements to soil quality reduce erosion and nutrient loss while shade from mature trees improves soil water retention, meaning households have better access to water. As biodiversity enhances, pollinators, birds, and reptiles are more abundant and can help fend off pests and insects and improve crop yields.
Timber and non-timber forest products: Farmers learn how to sustainably harvest firewood and timber while maintaining the integrity of carbon stocks. Timber is used in long-lived forest products, such as buildings and furniture and new harvesting practices help farmers create sustainable enterprises and build physical assets.
Land tenure and security: The project reinforces land tenure by respecting customary land rights to inform a common understanding of land ownership and the boundaries of properties. Conflicts between farmers reduce, as there is a lesser need for farmers to enter other neighbor’s land for timber collection or animal grazing.
Social and cultural assets: Investment in childhood health and education, micro-grants for women, and organizational capacity building for farmers’ groups create opportunities for the community. Importantly, the project respects cultural traditions, like Tara Bandu, and cultural sites are protected by the new trees.
Carbon Removals: Reforestation and soil management reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve carbon sequestration rates. Native seeds are collected and grown in nurseries, trees are planted in woodlots and used for intercropping and living fences, and soil management actions prevent soil degradation and build soil organic carbon. Remote sensing, site sampling, and plot inventories are used to evaluate the carbon pools against a conservative baseline and measure carbon sequestration.
Biodiversity: Some of the project sites are located near the New Diatuto Protected Area (NDPA). The NDPA has been classified by Birdlife International as an Important Bird Area as it provides habitat to endangered and near-threatened species of birds including Yellow Crested Cockatoos, Timor Green Pigeons, Timor Imperial Pigeons, and Black-banded Flycatchers. The project builds biodiversity by creating habitat and wildlife corridors to native forest areas in The NDPA. The soil management activities also increased micro-organism activity in the soil and soil habitat creation.
Scalable: FCOTI is currently expanding its operations! FCOTI is expanding the current project to include farmers in the southern regions of Natarbora and Sikone and with the right resources will plant trees on 100 hectares of land by 2026. FCOTI is also exploring a partnership with a local business to plant trees on an additional 300 hectares of land. Additionally, they are assessing the feasibility of expanding their work to include mangrove reforestation with the assistance of a regional NGO.
In June 2023, participating farmers showed government officials from the European Union and New Zealand the success of the reforestation.
Project updates
Oct2023
6,000 tonnes of CO₂e out of our atmosphere with our new tree planting project
Our first batch of credits for our Community agroforestry project has already been retired and can never be re-sold....
Oct
2023
Where is the project located?
The project is located in the central mountains of Timor-Leste within Manatuto Municipality. The project sites are spread across nine villages located in Laclubar and Soibada. Manatuto Municipality is rugged and sparsely populated, home to just 48,500 people. With the recent expansion, the project has also included Viqueque Municipality.
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Who is behind this project?
The project is made possible by FCOTI with support from GTNT Group. A Darwin Initiative grant funded the certification of climate benefits and technical support is provided by Charles Sturt University. FCOTI is a local NGO in Timor-Leste in its own right, registered under the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Timor-Leste. FCOTI's mission is to address and avoid climate change impacts through community reforestation activities and sustainable socioeconomic development activities, including carbon credit sales.
A map showing the project area in Timor-Leste, with planting sites, FMNR sites, and sacred sites annotated.
How is the money spent?
Receipts and documents
We keep a public record of all payment receipts we've received from our project partners. You can browse the receipt ledger here.
Income from the sale of Plan Vivo Certificates (aka carbon credits) is used to compensate farmers and expand the project to other areas. 60% of the PVC sale is paid directly in cash to individual participating farmers according to the payment for ecosystem services agreement developed by FCOTI in close consultation and consent of the farmers. The agreement requires the majority of the money to be distributed in cash to farmers, while a portion of the funds can be made into a "common fund" governed and managed by the farmers. The remaining 40% of the funds are used by FCOTI to organize agroforestry training courses, monitoring and reporting, administration and management of the project, establish demonstration plots, and build relationships with new communities to expand the area where trees are planted.
How did we vet this project?
Wren conducts a rigorous analysis of each project we bring onto our platform. We assess projects across 91 metrics we consider necessary for success. Here is a summary of our findings for this project:
| Category | Description | Score |
|---|---|---|
| Additionality | Carbon finance is the main driver of high tree survival rates. Tree planting and agroforestry are not common practices in the region, and there is no legislation that requires the project activities. | 5/5 |
| Baseline Scenario & Carbon Accounting Methodology | The project uses the Smallholder Agriculture Monitoring and Baseline Assessment (SHAMBA) tool, and appropriate field data to conduct greenhouse gas accounting. | 5/5 |
| Co-Benefits | Extensive co-benefits (e.g. income, gender equity, biodiversity) are monitored and tracked over time. | 5/5 |
| Permanence | Linking livelihood benefits to tree plantings and performance-based payment structure strengthens permanence, however, all nature-based solutions face permanence risks of some kind. | 4/5 |
| Leakage | Activity shifting is the main leakage risk, this is mitigated via land-use planning and community education. Leakage is monitored by the project and measurements are adjusted accordingly. | 4.5/5 |
| Certainty | The SHAMBA model has conservativeness built into its applicability conditions and model defaults, conservative data inputs, and buffer pool further build certainty. | 5/5 |
Verification
This project is certified by Plan Vivo against a framework developed specifically designed for community and smallholder land-use and forestry projects. The framework is based on a concept called payment for ecosystem services (PES). Ecosystem services are benefits derived from the natural environment (like carbon sequestration) and payments for these services occur when the beneficiaries make payments to the provider of that service. Plan Vivo Certificates (PVC) are tradable units that represent 1 tonne of CO₂e avoided or removed, however, they also indicate contributions toward environmental and social benefits such as biodiversity conservation, poverty reduction, ecosystem restoration, and adaptation. 60% of each PVC sold goes directly to the communities implementing the project.
60% of each [carbon credit] sold goes directly to the communities implementing the project.
This project uses the Plan Vivo Standard to certify the climate, livelihood, and other environmental benefits associated with the project. It uses the Small-holder Agriculture Monitoring and Baseline Assessment (SHAMBA) Tool to quantify the expected climate benefits of tree planting, agroforestry, and agricultural interventions. Verification and validation of the climate benefits were carried out by a Plan Vivo-approved third-party auditor.
A participating farmer shares her story with a documentary crew.
Project documents including registration certificates, audit reports, and annual reports can be found on Plan Vivo’s website. Credit retirement certificates:
Carbon Credit Certificate August 2021
Carbon Credit Retirement August 2023 S&P
Carbon Credit Certificate November 2023
Carbon Credit Retirement November 2023 S&P
Carbon Credit Retirement January 2024 S&P
Carbon Credit Certificate January 2024
Contact information
For management of the project: Alexandre Sarmento, FCOTI CEO, alexsarmento2009@googlemail.com
For technical questions on Project Description Document: Jorge Ramos, FCOTI, jorger1001@hotmail.com
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If you have specific questions about Community agroforestry in Timor-Leste, our team is here to help answer them.
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