Project
In the Peruvian Amazon region around Pucallpa, near the Ucayali river, the forest that once covered the area has disappeared in the last years, principally due to forest clearance for land speculation. To regain nature and support economic activity Form International has set up this long-term project to restore the deforested and degraded land. Our initiative seeks to establish a reforestation business that will produce value-added timber products from fast-growing commercial species native to Peru and also creates conservation areas.
With this project, we want to create a sustainable forestry company to develop timber value chains that supply major cities in the country while restoring priority forest areas that positively affect smallholder livelihoods, local economies and ecosystems. To do this, we only utilize land that is already deforested or degraded and largely devoid of natural forest cover, containing a limited number of solitary trees.
Working together
Working with neighbouring local and native communities is a critical part of this project, which seeks to enable local producers to stay in the countryside by increasing the productivity of their farming systems and creating 200-300 jobs. We expect to grow our planted area with a few hundred hectares per year in the first few years and aim to reach 6000 hectares of mixed native tree plantations in 10 to 12 years. Additionally, we plan to involve 600 farming families to help us reach our goal of 3000 hectares under agroforestry systems. Another component of the project is that we want to make animal migration possible again. We explore the possibility of creating a biological corridor to enable animal migration and re-establishment in the region. This would allow for greater movement of species and the potential for increased biodiversity.
Carbon Credits
Another key element of this project is the storage of carbon dioxide (CO2). Through capturing and storing CO2, this project seeks to reduce emissions and mitigate the effects of climate change. Trees on the plantations and in the neighbourhood of the farmers will store CO2, allowing them to generate carbon credits. In 2022, Form International launched Treevive, an initiative to bridge the gap between forest landscape projects that wish to receive carbon finance and businesses and investors who are looking to finance projects of this nature. Treevive will introduce carbon credits generated from this project to the market.
Erik Schinkel has been working for 30 years in rural areas of Latin America, he is a specialist in the development, implementation, and management of forestry projects in rural settings and is taking the lead in the forest landscape restoration in Peru: “With this project Form International makes an impact: making local communities participate in and benefit from sustainable forest landscape restoration projects financed by global capital. If we manage to execute the project properly then we will be able to bring back the forest and we can set up healthy economic activity. This can make a big difference in the region for the long-term”.