Supporting Agroforestry System in Meghalaya, India
In partnership with Earthbanc
The Meghalaya Agroforestry project recovered an extremely degraded landscape that had exposed soil throughout most of the 27 hectares site. The rainfall in Meghalaya can exceed 20 meters of rainfall per year, due to the intense rainfall patterns that result from the foothills adjoining the Himalayas which was resulting in large volumes of soil being eroded. The project evaluated which crops could economically be planted on such a degraded site that had severe soil erosion, and had to select extremely hardy species that could survive the extreme rainfall and soil erosion. The land was degraded from clear-fell logging and the new landowners' Spring Valley Farm regenerated the land with a mix of rubber trees and organic pineapple plants.
The project has delivered 15,000 carbon offset units over 27 hectares in 10 years, verified by Earthbanc. Each rubber tree sequesters 1 tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere during its growth period of 10 years.
In Earthbanc we have developed our own reporting method, “Earth Plus Verification'' with the goal to increase transparency and security for an ethically responsible practice of investing in sustainable nature management. “Earth Plus Verification” is specifically designed for forest landscapes, visualizing existing and future impact, and using a rating scale of 0%- 100%. With a broad spectrum of metrics, the rating system is designed to be applicable to a wide range of different forest projects. The rating focuses on the social and environmental impact whilst also considering production risks. The Worldview Impact Foundation is also supporting adventure ecotourism and forest restoration projects in South West Khasi Hills District and has planted 200,000 native tree species with local conservation groups that are being verified by Earthbanc.