West Africa’s unparalleled potential for ‘triple-win’ reforestation

Forest restoration is an urgent priority worldwide, but that doesn’t mean we should be planting trees everywhere. The mantra of the restoration movement has always been ‘the right trees in the right places’ – and from a climate change perspective, this means planting trees in places where they stand to make the most significant contribution towards atmospheric carbon removal. Relatively few regions tick all the required boxes - but studies have repeatedly highlighted the Upper Guinean Forest in West Africa as a hotspot with high potential (e.g. Strassburg et al., 2020; Brancalion et al., 2019; Griscom et al., 2017). So what makes this part of Africa so suitable for climate mitigation actions through reforestation?

The first component is the rapid rate at which trees grow back within West African degraded landscapes. Regeneration rates vary hugely around the world in response to gradients in soils and climate, with the warmer, wetter and more fertile areas tending to have higher potential- not only in terms of speed, but also in the amount of carbon stored once forests reach a mature state. West Africa again scores very highly in global mapping studies of this potential, having ideal climatic conditions for prolific, year-round productivity. Few areas can rival Amazonia when it comes to tree growth, but a recent study found that plant growth rates in West African lowlands exceed those of equivalent sites in the Amazon – a pattern they attribute to unusually efficient leaf growth among West African tree species.

Being the right place for reforestation projects isn’t just about having the potential to grow the biggest trees. To truly fulfil the promise of ecosystem restoration, projects must also target areas where they can deliver significant benefits to local people and wildlife alongside carbon - ideally exceeding the benefits delivered by alternative land uses. This is the elusive ‘triple-win’ reforestation scenario – much discussed in carbon circles, but seldom achieved in reality.  

The toughest part is often achieving the second ‘win’: bringing real benefits to local people. This is challenging because in most parts of the world, people can make far more money from other land uses (like farming) than they can from the re-growth of natural forests. Competing with these alternative land-uses - the so-called ‘opportunity cost’ of reforestation - ultimately boils down to economics: if farming in an area is highly profitable, it always going to be difficult to make reforestation an attractive prospect.

In West Africa, farming is seldom highly profitable. This isn’t because of poor soils, but because limitations to infrastructure, resources and market accessibility mean farms struggle to achieve strong yields or get good prices for their products. The low profitability of farming – and prevalence of practices like slash-and-burn that actively degrade the soil – mean that many farmers barely scrape a living from the land after it has been deforested. The economic opportunities presented by the carbon market can therefore make a huge difference to the lives of people in these circumstances.

Ensuring that locals benefit from rainforest restoration is important for another key requirement for ensuring projects genuinely deliver net carbon removals: permanence. By default, reforestation projects take place in areas that have undergone deforestation, and it is essential that re-growing trees are prevented from suffering the same fate. Decades of research on forest protection has shown that this is best achieved by ensuring local people have a strong stake in the preservation of the forest. The sustainable financial benefits that our projects bring to local communities - including long-term employment prospects - makes this is relatively easy thing to achieve in West Africa. Many communities also have strong cultural connections to the forest; by respecting and supporting these values, our projects can gain further protection through the stewardship of local people.

The limited productivity of farming is important with respect to another key part of the carbon equation: the thorny issue of leakage. This is the risk that carbon drawdowns from reforestation are cancelled out by the displacement of economic activities into unprotected forests elsewhere. Leakage is most likely to happen in areas where agriculture is highly productive agriculture, such that reforestation creates a shortfall against market demand and thus increased incentives for production elsewhere. At Rainforest Builder, we tackle this head-on by incorporating agricultural improvement programs in all our projects –these work to boost yields on existing farms surrounding our project areas, effectively eliminating market incentives to clear more forest. Given the low baseline condition of farms in the region, huge yield improvements can be made by giving smallholder farmers access to the right tools and knowledge. Reforestation in much of West Africa therefore carries a very low risk for leakage issues, if done correctly.

The third ‘win’ –benefiting wildlife – is another area where West Africa is an outstanding global priority. Natural forests in the region have been reduced to just a tenth of their former extent since 1900, and populations of wild species have correspondingly suffered dramatic declines. The Upper Guinean Forest Zone is considered one of the most threatened of the world’s 25 biodiversity hotspots, with rates of land transformation and degradation forecast to continue over the next half century. The region is home to thousands of endemic species, including some of the highest concentrations of endangered primates anywhere in the world (5 Critically Endangered and 21 Endangered primate species). Many of these species are threatened by hunting, but ultimately their fate will depend on the sheer quantity of forest habitat in the landscape. Given the fragmented state of remaining forest patches, more forest cover is desperately needed to give these species a hope of recovery.

Growing trees is by far the most promising method available for removing CO₂ from the atmosphere, but it’s fair to say that it won’t work everywhere. The best opportunities lie in the tropics – and West Africa in particular, as a zone where carbon markets have the potential to deliver transformative benefits to both communities and ecosystems. It is a privilege to be involved in making these benefits a reality with Rainforest Builder – and the sky is the limit as we continue to expand our work across this vast and remarkable region.