Why Most Programmes Do Not Withstand Scrutiny
- Trees planted is an input, not an outcome. If survival is 40%, planting a million trees means 400,000 trees — and nobody counted.
- No baseline. Without measuring what was there before, you cannot demonstrate change of any kind.
- No aftercare budget. Funding stops at planting day, which is precisely when the work that determines survival begins.
- No geolocation. Claims that cannot be located cannot be verified, and increasingly buyers and auditors ask.
- Species chosen for optics. Symbolically attractive species that do not suit the site die quietly.
- Local people not involved. Trees planted on land people need, without replacing the income, do not survive their first dry season unprotected.
What We Build Instead
| Element | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Measured baseline | Site condition, land-cover history from satellite, geolocated plots recorded before anything is planted |
| Site-matched design | Species selected for soil, hydrology and altitude — and for whether people will protect them |
| Funded aftercare | Weeding, beating up, fire and grazing protection, budgeted for three years minimum |
| Survival reporting | Counts at 6, 12, 24 and 60 months from the same geolocated plots |
| Community structure | Who benefits, how, and what they gain from protecting it |
| Verifiable claim language | Wording your communications team can use and your auditor will accept |
We Will Push Back on the Claim
Three things we say that clients do not always want to hear
- "Carbon neutral" claims from tree planting are hard to substantiate. They require an approved methodology, additionality, permanence and verification — see carbon eligibility. Most planting programmes do not meet that bar and should not use that language.
- The honest number is smaller. Reporting surviving trees rather than planted trees produces a less impressive figure and a far more defensible one.
- Some sites should not be planted. Where assisted natural regeneration would work better and cheaper, we will say so — even though it makes for weaker photographs.
If the objective is a headline number, we are the wrong firm. If the objective is something that holds up when someone checks, this is exactly what we do.
How It Fits Your Other Obligations
A well-designed conservation programme feeds directly into ESG reporting, supply-chain questionnaires, lender environmental and social requirements, and any ESIA offset or compensatory planting condition. Scope them together rather than running parallel programmes that do not talk to each other.
Where We Work
Based in Wakiso, just outside Kampala, working across Uganda and taking regional assignments in East and Central Africa.