Viridis Terra International

Viridis Terra International is a Canadian private company that is dedicated to the formulation, implementation, and management of large-scale reforestation and forest landscape restoration projects on degraded and deforested lands. The company rehabilitates and returns to production all types of degraded soils and ecosystems, including former mines. Viridis Terra's projects develop green economic alternatives, promote social and environmental responsibility and contribute to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Viridis Terra’s reforestation approach includes essential agroforestry, watershed management and land use capacity concepts. Projects including these concepts ensure positive impacts on landscape resilience and productivity, soil revitalization, clean water production, biodiversity protection, the agricultural sector, and on all aspects of durable socio-economic development of a modern society. The end goal is to create new economic opportunities on formerly degraded landscapes.

Viridis Terra’s restoration projects are guided by the company's Integrated Forest Landscape Restoration Model, (IFLR). The IFLR, which includes a robust stakeholder involvement program, conforms to the highest international environmental standards, including RainForest Alliance, Gold Standard, and Fair Trade. As a result, Viridis Terra’s restoration projects qualify for and facilitate the procurement of important financial resources available through carbon and biodiversity offset programs. The company's restoration interventions produce highly valuable deforestation-free products, such as timber, fruits, and energy wood, that are certified and sold on the national and international markets.

The IFLR model includes:

• Hi-tech tree factories;

• Biotech labs for tree micropropagation equipped with somatic embryogenesis, biofertilizer production technology, and forest genomics labs;

• Remote sensing and geo-traceability technologies;

• Phytotechnologies for natural ecosystem restoration, including the patent-pending SYLVEN and MICROLIGNUM technologies

• The TreesOfLives digital platform, which is currently in development.

Viridis Terra have been working in Haiti since 2017 and in Peru since early 2019. The company's goal is to expand activities across Peru and in three other Latin American countries in the next 10 years.

As part of Initiative 20x20, Viridis Terra seeks to share its knowledge and experience with the country, technical, and financial partners to aid and boost the involvement of the private sector in Latin America's landscape restoration movement.

Viridis Terra is interested in:

• Providing policy advice to governments on land tenure issues, a major barrier to private investment in degraded landscapes;

• Providing technical assistance for the development of restoration strategies and best practices;

• Working with the Best Practices Task Force;

• Engaging with the other Initiative 20x20 members by participating in the Annual Meetings and other technical workshops, discussion and reports on the restoration;

• Building capacity at the project level;

• Pitching restoration projects that could be of interest to impact investors;

• Being in touch on a regular basis with the Initiative’s Secretariat to share any progress.

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