Rainforest Alliance

The Cochabamba Project Ltd. -- ArBoliva is a project that aims to promote reforestation and fair trade. The initiative being implimented in settler areas in the Cochabamba Tropics, the Province of Ichilo in the department of Santa Cruz, Northern La Paz, and Western Beni Boliva seeks practical solutions to worldwide increasing deforestation, climate change, and poverty in developing countries. Beginning with an area of 1,189 hectares, the project will reforest 5,000 ha in the subtropical lowland of the Amazon Basin in Bolivia through small scale forestry plantations with local farm families, using almost entirely native tree species. It includes the on-farm establishment of ecological corridors, protective plantations, as well as sustainable agricultural land use.

The initiative is the first in its kind to implement reforestation through an association between local smallholders and outside ethical investors. To alleviate the initial investments, financial revenues are obtained as well through Environmental Services, given that every tree planted contributes to the environment and the conservation of soils, watersheds and biodiversity. Through this line of finance, ArBolivia becomes lucrative and viable for both the smallholders and the investors.

The project areas have been and continue to be severely deforested over the last thirty years as a result of the extensive use of shifting cultivation for annual cropping and livestock holding. In return, ArBolivia offers a profitable alternative to the clearing of primary forests, combining livelihood improvement of participating farmers with environmental preservation. The project started in September 2007, following an extended period of research and development dating back to 1995, and has an estimated cycle of about fifty years.