WRI Terrafund (Rural Prosperity Bond)

Owned by Ashu Sikri (Unlicensed)
Jan 25, 2022
2 min read

Intel from an April 2021 webinar hosted by IFAD and Climate Policy Initiative on Investing in Smallholders' Regenerative Practices.

Venkat Iyer presented the Terrafund program from World Resource Institute.

The idea is that NGOs or social enterprises get $50 to 100k loans for implementing local restoration projects. Focusing on Africa as part of Afr100 (Africa Forest Restoration; targeting 100mn hectares by 2030). See this example:

Targets:

 

There are three complementary pieces that come together:

  • Terramatch: A marketplace that matches restoration projects with investors/funders. Sounds like there is some monitoring tech (remote sensing maybe?) embedded here as well but wasn’t super clear.

  • Land Accelerator: Workshops/mentorships and capacity building for ag businesses that want to launch restoration enterprises

  • Terrafund: Funding for projects. Currently doing all grants but wants to move to a blended model with 50% grants and remainder debt from impact investors. A portion of the loan would be forgiven if the borrowing enterprise maintains certain ESG parameters.

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