The Ecopreneur Movement

35,000households enrolled

~30Mtrees targeted

~2MtCO₂e targeted annually

Zambia

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A person wearing a patterned shirt and hat walks beside a brown cow in a dry, sparsely vegetated landscape with scattered green plants and leafless branches overhead.

A person in a green jumpsuit walks away along a cultivated field with rows of small green plants, dry brown soil, and distant rolling hills under a clear blue sky.

Building a rural climate economy from the ground up

Zambia’s Miombo woodlands support farming, grazing, fuel, food and biodiversity across a vast rural landscape. Repeated fire, woodland degradation and declining soil health can erode both ecological health and household resilience.

The Ecopreneur Movement starts with a different premise: farmers should not have to wait years for a carbon credit before restoration improves family income. Participants are trained and paid for planting native trees, protecting natural regrowth, reducing fires, making compost and improving grazing management.

Each Ecopreneur becomes both land steward and traceable participant in a climate program. Digital payments are recorded at farmer level, local teams verify activity and satellite data measures changes such as fire reduction and tree-cover gain.

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Why carbon finance is critical

Community Climate Solutions funds operations and ecosystem-service payments upfront, before carbon revenue is expected. Farmers are paid while restoration work is happening rather than being asked to carry project-development risk.

Ecopreneur Movement is built around farmers as the drivers of restoration, creating strong alignment between livelihoods and environmental outcomes. For buyers looking to support a next-generation VM0047 project with CCP-labelled credentials, it provides a compelling blend of community participation and long-term carbon impact.

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From challenge to measurable impact

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Two people stand in a grassy, dusty field with a large herd of cows behind them under a cloudy sky; trees and hills in the distance.

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Challenge

Rural households in Zambia’s Miombo woodlands have few sources of income, so many rely on slash-and-burn farming and charcoaling to meet immediate needs. Clearing and burning the woodland depletes and erodes soils microbiology. Over time, yields fall and farmers become reliant on costly synthetic the fertilizers which create fresh short-term pressures that drive further woodland clearing in a cycle of degradation with no end in sight.

Solution

Ecopreneurs plant native trees alongside crops and livestock, protect natural regrowth, create and maintain fire-prevention measures, improve grazing management and use compost to support soil health. Training and local field support help translate the project design into farm-level action. Payments for ecosystem services begin before carbon issuance, rewarding participants for activities they can control today. Monitoring combines field teams and satellite data. Digital payment records connect financial benefits to individual participants, while project-level revenue reporting and independent audit are intended to strengthen transparency.

Impact

The project targets landscape-scale restoration of Miombo woodland and farm-tree systems, with up to two million tonnes of annual carbon impact by 2030. Its most distinctive outcome is economic agency. Farmers are positioned as paid providers of climate services, not passive beneficiaries waiting for a project to succeed around them. Restoration, fire reduction, improved farming practices and transparent payments are designed to reinforce one another, building ecological resilience and a new source of rural income.

Challenge: Rural households in Zambia’s Miombo woodlands have few sources of income, so many rely on slash-and-burn farming and charcoaling to meet immediate needs. Clearing and burning the woodland depletes and erodes soils microbiology. Over time, yields fall and farmers become reliant on costly synthetic the fertilizers which create fresh short-term pressures that drive further woodland clearing in a cycle of degradation with no end in sight.
Solution: Ecopreneurs plant native trees alongside crops and livestock, protect natural regrowth, create and maintain fire-prevention measures, improve grazing management and use compost to support soil health. Training and local field support help translate the project design into farm-level action. Payments for ecosystem services begin before carbon issuance, rewarding participants for activities they can control today. Monitoring combines field teams and satellite data. Digital payment records connect financial benefits to individual participants, while project-level revenue reporting and independent audit are intended to strengthen transparency.
Impact: The project targets landscape-scale restoration of Miombo woodland and farm-tree systems, with up to two million tonnes of annual carbon impact by 2030. Its most distinctive outcome is economic agency. Farmers are positioned as paid providers of climate services, not passive beneficiaries waiting for a project to succeed around them. Restoration, fire reduction, improved farming practices and transparent payments are designed to reinforce one another, building ecological resilience and a new source of rural income.

One project. A multitude of outcomes.

35,000 rural households

Turning woodland restoration into a reliable source of income.

30 million native trees targeted.

The project plans landscape-scale agroforestry and restoration planting.

Up to 2m tCO₂e sequestered annually

sequestered annually.

60% minimum community share

of distributable carbon revenue committed to flow directly back to Zambian communities.

Payments before credits

Farmers receive ecosystem-service payments before forecast carbon revenue arrives.

Contributing to the UN Sustainable Development Goals

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SDG 1: No Poverty

Creating income through ecosystem services and future carbon revenue. Upfront ecosystem-service payments are designed to create income before future carbon issuance.

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SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth

Recognizing farmers as paid Ecopreneurs. Farmers are paid for practical restoration activities and participate in a stated future revenue-sharing model.

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SDG 13: Climate Action

Increasing tree cover and reducing damaging fires. Field teams and satellite data are intended to track tree-cover gain, fire reduction and carbon outcomes.

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SDG 15: Life on Land

Restoring Miombo woodland and farm-tree systems. Agroforestry, assisted natural regeneration and fire prevention address both farms and surrounding Miombo woodland.

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SDG 17: Partnerships for the Goals

Connecting communities, developers and carbon buyers. The model links farmer-level action, project finance, digital payment records and corporate carbon buyers.

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Closer to the project.
More confidence in the impact.

The project combines three evidence streams: local field verification, satellite monitoring and farmer-level digital payment records. This allows ecological activity and financial flows to be checked through different systems.

Climate Impact Partners’ technical due diligence covers methodology, stakeholder engagement, land and carbon rights, benefit sharing, ecosystem health, additionality, permanence and monitoring.

Support this project How we ensure quality

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Project details

Project developer: Community Climate Solutions
Market partner: Climate Impact Partners
Methodology: Verra VM0047, version 1.1
Monitoring: Satellite imagery, local field teams and individual digital payment tracking