Restoration That Lasts: How Local Leadership and Smart Systems Are Reviving Africa’s Land

Hope wasn’t something you could see from space – until now. Satellite images across Africa are revealing an extraordinary sight: patches of trees regrowing on previously forested land that's been barren for decades. 

Take, for example, the Rusizi Basin in western Rwanda, a mountainous and ecologically diverse region fed by the Rusizi River. Years of deforestation have rendered much of this once-lush terrain unsustainable. But now, a grassroots restoration group called the ARCOS Network is working with farmers to rebuild native forests. The projects, which blend cutting edge-science and local knowledge, involve reconnecting fractured stretches of habitat for chimpanzees and wetland birds, restoring steep slopes, and protecting freshwater sources.  

Meanwhile, in Kenya’s Rift Valley, another organization called Afrex Gold is helping farmers grow high-quality avocado trees, supplying 50,000 seedlings each year and providing guaranteed buyers once the trees begin to fruit. This model gives farmers a reason to grow and keep them healthy. It also reduces pressure on nearby forests, since rising incomes mean fewer trees cut down for charcoal or timber.  

Across Africa, thousands of community groups, entrepreneurs, and farmers like these are eager to revitalize deforested land. The ambition is there. What's too often missing, though, is systematic support – the funding, training, and tools to turn good intentions into measurable outcomes for climate, nature, and people.  

This is why the Bezos Earth Fund backs local leaders with the resources they need to restore their land at scale. 

In just three years, 137 community-led restoration projects supported by the Earth Fund – including those in Rwanda and Kenya – have planted more than 21.5 million trees and begun restoring 76,000 acres of land across Africa. That’s an area the size of Zion National Park. These efforts are projected to remove up to 8.5 million tons of carbon dioxide by 2050 and restore vital habitat for biodiversity.  

But we didn’t begin with a blueprint – we began with a question: Who's already doing this work? In 2021, we funded a call for proposals to find out. Nearly 3,000 local groups applied. Today, that number has grown to more than 5,500 organizations, revealing a powerful grassroots movement hiding in plain sight.  

To meet that momentum, we helped launch TerraFund – an initiative developed with World Resources Institute, One Tree Planted, and Realize Impact – to identify the most promising projects, fund them quickly, and track their progress over time. TerraFund transformed a surge of interest into a coordinated system for sourcing, vetting, financing, and monitoring restoration efforts led by the people best positioned to deliver impact: those living and working on the land.  

But funding alone isn’t enough. Restoration only works if the trees survive. Many projects see survival rates stuck between 40 and 60 percent. In TerraFund projects, the average reported survival rate reaches 80 percent – a leap in carbon sequestration, ecosystem recovery, and long-term resilience. 

Until recently, monitoring this kind of restoration at scale was nearly impossible. Most tracking relied on self-reporting or scattered field visits. Today, our partners use high-resolution satellite imagery, AI developed with Land and Carbon Lab, and local verification to detect saplings just months after planting. We can zoom in on planting holes and measure growth in near real time.  

What once looked like a pixelated blur is now a high-resolution picture of recovery in motion – forests regenerating, ecosystems coming back to life, and less obvious but equally important, carbon dioxide being captured.  

With support from the Earth Fund, TerraFund and its partners have helped mobilize more than $85 million in co-financing for vetted local projects. In Africa, TerraFund is now anchored within a new regional foundation built to scale its mission and sustain it over time. TerraFund’s model has already expanded to Ghana, India, and Brazil, demonstrating both global demand and the model’s adaptability. To date, it has supported more than 220 local groups and entrepreneurs with grants, low-interest loans, and equity investments, including many receiving outside funding for the first time.  

Nature-based climate solutions like restoration and conservation can deliver around one-third of the emissions reductions needed between now and 2030 to meet the Paris Agreement. But current efforts aren’t moving fast enough. To meet global climate goals, the pace of restoration must double every year through 2030.  

Africa holds one of the world’s greatest opportunities to close that gap. That’s why the Bezos Earth Fund has invested more than $75 million in African restoration – not only in projects, but also in the systems that help them succeed and scale.  

The infrastructure is in place. The data is clear. Local leaders are already doing the work.  

The next step is acceleration.  

Can increased transparency and accountability unlock the funding this movement needs? Can we bring in development banks and private capital to reward verified results – carbon sequestered, ecosystems restored, and lives improved?  

We’ve seen what’s possible when local vision is backed by global support. Now we need to scale on this foundation to remove more carbon dioxide, restore more ecosystems, and deliver results the planet urgently needs.