Introduction

Global Forest Generation (GFG) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is large-scale restoration of threatened forests.

GFG partners with local leaders and communities to plant the right trees in the right places. They are regenerating vital forest ecosystems for their critical role in preserving water, storing carbon, and protecting biodiversity. GFG’s projects ensure the viability of indigenous cultures and are a refuge for endangered species.  

GFG’s focus is fully aligned with the priorities of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030, a call-to- action for much needed nature-based solutions for climate resilience.

Problem

Water scarcity and biodiversity loss caused by climate change are accelerating and will be catastrophic in coming decades unless immediate action is taken. Despite worldwide consensus that forest restoration is essential to fighting climate change, millions of acres remain degraded or destroyed. 

Solution

Global Forest Generation is focused on large-scale and long-term restoration of priority forest ecosystems by planting the right species – native trees – in the right places.

Their dedicated on-the-ground leaders respect indigenous cultures and speak their language. Not only are they connected to the communities with which they work, they are often from the communities. And they are committed to working over the long haul to restore community lands. This is how GFG assures consistency in results and continuity of purpose. 

Ensuring that forest ecosystems are being restored at a meaningful scale requires increasing the number of these effective leaders. To help meet this challenge, GFG is not only supporting existing local and regional leaders and their conservation organizations, but also a new generation that can create grass roots consensus for long-term conservation.

Impact

Acción Andina will restore and protect the critically important, native Polylepis forest ecosystem in the high Andes mountains of South America. The world’s highest elevation forest (now significantly fragmented), it grows along a 3,000 mile corridor through seven countries.

The goal of Latin-led Acción Andina, which may require 25 years to realize, is full protection for 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) of remaining Polylepis forest in six Andean countries: Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina. (We hope Venezuela can join in the future.) An additional 500,000 hectares will be reforested in buffer zones and areas of importance downslope from glaciers.

History

Global Forest Generation was founded in 2018 by seasoned conservationists with decades of experience protecting Latin America’s most vulnerable ecosystems. GFG is replicating and scaling up a successful community-based reforestation model that has resulted in the planting of over 3 million native trees.

GFG’s first initiative, Acción Andina, led by Latin America’s conservation leaders, will restore and protect the native Polylepis forests of the high Andes. This forest ecosystem can play a valuable role in responding to the challenges of climate change.