OCP's Tree Pledge: Strengthening communities through ecosystem restoration
Pledge by
OCP Foundation
Planting today for a greener tomorrow - harnessing the potential of local trees, empowering communities, nurturing livelihoods in Africa and beyond
- Type
- Conserving, Restoring & Growing, Enabling
- This pledge will take place from
- 2020 to 2030
- Location
- Guinea, Morocco, Senegal
Pledge overview
As a global leader in plant nutrition, OCP Group is committed to catalyzing a just agricultural transition to sustainable food systems. The group is investing in its operations and its supply chain to achieve carbon neutrality by 2040 while developing innovative solutions to enhance soil health, promote climate-positive agriculture and preserve natural ecosystems globally.
Africa, with the fastest growing population, the greatest crop yield potential, and a large proportion of the world’s unused arable land, is pivotal to this transition. That is why OCP Group is actively engaged in several initiatives, particularly through its Foundation, to empower African communities and protect ecosystems, including :
- The Great Green Wall initiative aims to create a wall of trees and vegetation across the Sahel to halt desertification and land degradation. OCP Foundation is supporting the Senegalese Reforestation and Great Green Wall Agency through capacity building, research, laboratory equipment and engagement with local communities. This includes the creation of two 20-hectare Integrated Community Agricultural Farms with solar-powered pumping systems and water towers, irrigation systems, farm fencing, nursery installation, and provision of seeds for fruit and forest trees, along with agricultural equipment supply.
- The Mangroves project launched in Joal Fadiouth, Senegal in October 2021 aims to preserve the marine ecosystem and develop income-generating activities for local communities, such as beekeeping. OCP Foundation aims to covers an area of 100 hectares, with a target of 4 million trees planted and support provided to 600 people. A second Mangroves project in Guinea was launched in 2024 covering a similar expanse of 100 hectares.
- OCP has an ongoing tree planting program across its former mining sites, including carob, argan, olive, and eucalyptus trees planting 10 million trees by 2040 (5 million by 2030) thereby conserving 200,000t CO2. With some trees now reaching maturity, OCP is pursuing a project to harness their potential, particularly argan fruits, for the benefit of local cooperatives, marking a new phase in sustainable development efforts.
By preserving and restoring 10 million indigenous trees by 2030, our efforts contribute to enhance livelihoods empowering local communities and developing value chains of local products while simultaneously mitigating climate change impacts.
Actions in this pledge
-
Conserving trees and forest landscapes
Supporting actions
- Permanent conservation
- Secure a forest through acquisition or legal agreement to avoid planned or unplanned deforestation or degradation, and/or ensure permanent conservation of land
- Conservation support activities
- Support the operating costs and activities of existing conservation areas, including advocacy for conservation policy
Additional details
Support from OCP Foundation for the Great Green Wall began in 2022 and will continue until 2028 in Senegal and beyond. As of today, 1000 women have benefited from the support provided by the Foundation in Senegal. In 2024, the Group plans to deploy the Applied Research Fund to strengthen the resilience of communities and agricultural systems, alongside establishing a multi-service hub to integrate stakeholders into the strategic value chains of the Great Green Wall.
Monitoring is based on internal reporting from local projects managers with the following objectives:
- Building capacities of local partners on different thematic related to conservation by December 2025
- Develop local products value chain by December 2025
- Reinforce capacity building on soil management for climate resilience by 2030
Conserving
- Land area
- 70000 hectares
-
Restoring and growing trees and forest landscapes
Supporting actions
- Assisted natural regeneration
- Actions that support natural regeneration without tree planting, such as Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration, forest soil remediation, exotic species control, disease prevention, and wildfire protection
- Reforestation
- Re-establishment of forest through planting and/or deliberate seeding on land classified as forest, that has been degraded or where trees are unlikely to regenerate naturally
- Agroforestry
- Activities that establish and manage the integration of trees into agricultural landscapes, silvopastoral systems, farming in forests and along forest margins and tree-crop production
- Mangrove restoration
- Establishment or enhancement of mangroves along coastal areas and in estuaries
- Watershed protection and erosion control
- Establishment and enhancement of forests on very steep sloping land, along water courses, in areas that naturally flood and around critical water bodies
Additional details
The main purpose of tree planting in the mine sites is to increase the ecosystem services provided by the rehabilitated areas including carbon sequestration, soil stabilization, soil bioactivation, biodiversity increase, and food production.
The objective is to reduce dust emissions, reconfigure the post-mining landscape, develop an agricultural ecosystem around mining sites and create sustainable jobs for local communities.
The program of afforestation includes an R&D project to define the best plant species, soil improvements, and water management strategies to optimize carbon sequestration using nature-based solutions in rehabilitated areas. The Group collaborates with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University on specific species that are resilient to soil and climate conditions in mining areas. A model farm has been set up to test crops that best adapt to local conditions. During this exploration, focus was put on fruit trees but also on cereals, on forage crops and on aromatic and medicinal plants. The aim is to test cropping systems such as intercropping, agroforestry, and alternative new crops to improve soil fertility. It will also test practices to save water such as deficit irrigation, supplemental irrigation and rainwater harvesting for the irrigation of these plots. We also train farmers on sustainable production systems and best agro-ecological practices using OCP by-products as organic soil amendments.
Restoring & Growing
- Trees
- 10 million
-
Enabling activities for trees and forest landscapes
Supporting actions
- Nursery and seedling development
- Establish tree nurseries, including actions such as identification and collection of seeds and/or growing seedlings
- Sustainable forest management
- Activities that support the stewardship and use of forests (including by local communities and indigenous peoples), to maintain their biological diversity, productivity, and regeneration capacity, as well as their potential to fulfil relevant ecological economic and social functions
- Market development for sustainable forest products
- Activities that create markets and demand for ecologically and socially responsible timber and non-timber forest and agroforestry products, e.g. capacity-building for the harvesting and processing of agroforestry products, forest certification standards, etc.
- Education and capacity building
- Forest / tree species conservation and restoration education programmes, targeted educational and behaviour change campaigns, training and capacity building, including promotion of local and traditional knowledge and practices
- Community mobilisation
- Community mobilisation and engagement activities for conservation, restoration and reforestation, including enabling systems of community governance, etc.
- Youth engagement
- Engagement of young people and/or youth networks to catalyse a restoration generation
- Land, community rights & enabling institutional frameworks
- Activities that support land rights, resolve land tenure conflicts, support indigenous people’s rights, and other institutional and policy measures that support and facilitate conservation and restoration
- Data collection, management and technological tools
- Activities that provide data and/or technological tools to support conservation and restoration (e.g. monitoring etc.)
- Financial innovation
- Activities that create additional financial opportunities and incentives for conservation, restoration and reforestation (e.g. blended financing vehicles, etc.)
Additional details
The Mangroves project aims to plant mangroves, strengthen the capacities of local populations and create income-generating activities to reduce pressure on mangroves.
In parallel to the plantation in the mangroves ecosystems, we are conducting some additional activities such as:
- Developing income-generating activities : Agriculture, oyster farming, beekeeping and ecotourism
- Building capacities of women and local communities (training in the related income-generating activities, field demonstration, awareness about conservation of the ecosystem)
- Providing necessary equipment
Enabling
Our ecologically and socially responsible approach
Our mission is to preserve local biodiversity, address climate concerns, and support socio-economic development. We deliver capacity building programs for communities on how to live more sustainably. We also support the establishment of fixed and mobile soil and water control laboratories in remote areas. Through our initiatives, we foster local development while preserving and restoring the natural heritage for future generations. Capacity building initiatives target women essentially, recognizing their significant representation (80%) in agriculture in rural areas.
Across our projects, we integrate nature-based solution standards, while applying the 10 principles of ecosystem restoration as defined by the UN.
Our results tracking
The Foundation conducts baseline and impact studies by engaging in interviews with local communities and the public sector. During the projects’ lifetime, we keep a close monitoring of key parameters to ensure that the expected impact is reached in a sustainable way.
As for Morocco-based initiatives, the Group launched Act4Community dedicated to developing and overseeing social initiatives targeting local communities, including the creation of sustainable employment opportunities and the enhancement of livelihoods. OCP prioritizes collaboration with local authorities to empower communities in managing land resources for their benefit, while our partnership with UM6P university enables comprehensive support to beneficiaries throughout the value chain, starting with capacity building.
Ecological metrics
Water and soil quality (through the implementation of local fixed and mobile equipped labs), Tree diversity, Improved livelihoods, Fauna restoration, Flora regeneration, Improved costal biodiversity
Social metrics
Yields and revenues improvements for communities (men and women), Job creation for youth
Our system of accreditation
Eco cert: Certification for organic food products cultivated through tree planting to verify their quality
Our partners
- Senegalese agency for the great green wall
- Archipel and co
- Universities: Makerere University, Marondera University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Université Cheikh Anta Diop
- Senegalese Ecological Monitoring Council
- Senegalese Ministry of Environment and affiliated institutions
- Guinean ministry of Environment
- BCG for climate strategy & CIAT (CGIAR)
- OCP ecosystem: OCP Foundation, UM6P, OCP Africa
Our locations
We are working at locations across Guinea, Morocco, and Senegal.
Our efforts span various regions in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. While focus lies on initiatives in Morocco, Senegal, and Guinea on this pledge, the OCP Foundation is also engaged in a reforestation program in Madagascar, along with a coffee and fruit tree cultivation program in Uganda and a project harnessing the value of indigenous trees in Zimbabwe.