Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Phase 1

Phase 2

Phase 3

Phase 4

Phase 5

Great Agroforestry Initiative Africa

GAIA is a community-driven agroforestry and landscape restoration initiative that equips over 35.000 smallholder farmers to transform degraded savannahs into biodiverse, productive, and climate-resilient systems.

Verra Registry

Africa

35,000

hm2

Agroforestry & landscape project

Expected 2.95 million tonnes of CO₂

Project design and unique impact

We guide you through each stage of the project development lifecycle:

Local ownership

Designed under Verra’s VCS + CCB standards, GAIA prioritizes additionality, permanence and local ownership in carbon credit generation.

Digital traceability

TreeSyt, Sommalife’s proprietary platform, monitors every tree, farmer, and carbon impact—ensuring full visibility from seedling to sale.

Empowered women

Women lead in nursery operations, land management, and community governance, increasing both equity and economic resilience.

Grouped scalability

The Story.

In Northern Ghana, the shea tree has long sustained rural households. But worsening land degradation, erratic rainfall, and economic exclusion have trapped many communities in cycles of poverty and deforestation.

GAIA was launched in 2023 by Sommalife in partnership with The Green Branch to reverse this trend. Through a mix of active reforestation, assisted natural regeneration, and agroforestry integration, GAIA enables farmers to cultivate trees like shea, mango, cashew, and baobab in a mixed system. On the other hand, parklands are restored at scale on community-owned land, creating environmental impact at scale.

Farmers are onboarded through local partnerships and trained in sustainable practices, while communal parklands are restored with native species. TreeSyt technology ensures each intervention is traceable, measurable, and verified, forming the backbone of the project’s carbon credit issuance.

Today, GAIA is one of West Africa’s most comprehensive nature-based solutions transforming over 850 hectares in its pilot phase, with the vision to expand across 35.000 hectares by the end of the decade.

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Partner

Sommalife is a Dutch-Ghanaian social enterprise committed to improving the livelihoods of smallholder farmers through ethical sourcing and regenerative agriculture. Their award-winning platform, TreeSyt, powers real-time data collection and traceability across farmer networks.

The Green Branch supports the project as certification and strategy partner, ensuring full compliance with Verra’s Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) and Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards (CCB).

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Environmental impact.

GAIA is restoring savannah landscapes that were once rich with native trees and ecological functions. Through a combination of active tree planting and passive restoration, degraded land is being turned into biodiverse agroforestry systems. The project’s multi-species approach supports soil regeneration, improves water retention, and strengthens ecosystems against climate shocks. By planting over 60 native and productive species, GAIA enhances carbon sequestration while creating resilient, living landscapes that sustain agriculture and biodiversity together.

Community Involvement.

GAIA is fundamentally community-driven. Local farmers co-design their agroforestry systems, receive tailored training, and manage their own plots through ongoing technical support. Women lead nursery operations and gain access to new income from shea, cashew, and mango trees. In the early years, farmers receive financial incentives, while over time, their incomes are diversified through crop yields and carbon revenue. GAIA fosters intergenerational knowledge sharing, strengthens community ties, and empowers rural families to invest in their land and their future.