Creating Sustainable and Regenerative Agroforestry

The Terra+ Agroforestry Europe project is developed by Terra Madre Regeneration Solutions Lda. The Project promotes regenerative agricultural practices with a focus on agroforestry in Europe. Terra Madre carries out yearly monitoring of agricultural practices and other farm indicators to accurately estimate carbon balances as well as changes in ecosystem, social and economic indicators over time resulting from the implementation of regenerative farming practices. Based on science-based calculations, carbon certificates are issued that correspond to GHG emission reductions and GHG removals (ERR) and are associated with a range of emergent co-benefits and ecosystem services. The term “regenerative agriculture” describes a type of farm management that applies a set of context-specific nature-centered agronomical practices that reduce a farm's dependence on external inputs and improves soil health, biodiversity, water and nutrient cycling, farmer well-being, and the communities in which farms operate. Regenerative agriculture has been identified as an important means towards mitigating the effects of climate change and preserving resources valuable to society. These include natural resources such as soil, biodiversity and water, as well as social and economic aspects, such as farmer livelihoods and community benefits. Regenerative farming practices are known to reduce emissions and enhance the removal of greenhouse gases (GHG) from the atmosphere while preserving farm productivity. They also reduce the need for fertilizer and pesticide inputs and improve farm resilience to extreme weather conditions, which are becoming increasingly common across Europe. Through the procedure of Monitoring, Reporting and Verification (MRV) for carbon and co-benefits, Terra Madre creates and emits high quality regenerative carbon certificates. By receiving payment from the sale of these credits, farm stewards are compensated for the investments in time and money required for the adoption of regenerative farming practices. As such, this project removes or reduces financial barriers to a regenerative agriculture transition. In addition, the Project supports farmers by removing knowledge and cultural barriers hindering an agroecological transition, namely through direct guidance, access to expertise, linking to support networks and showcasing the results of regenerative farming. The carbon sequestration potential is modeled based on the respective project activities, land use type, as well as soil and climatic conditions tied to the specific project location. Terra+ Agroforestry Europe is a grouped AFOLU/CDR carbon farming project registered under the International Carbon Registry (ICR) as project ID429. At initial validation, the project comprises fourteen farm-level activity instances — thirteen in Portugal and one in Italy — with a Spanish portfolio prepared in parallel but not enrolled in this submission. The grouped structure allows additional farms to be added over time under a single PDD while preserving instance-level conformity demonstration for each enrolled farm. At initial validation, the monitoring period covers six years (01/01/2020–31/12/2025) and the crediting period is ten years. The project commits to a 40-year permanence horizon, with the non-permanence buffer percentage set by the ICR within the standard AFOLU range. The project quantifies removals and emission reductions across two primary carbon sinks — tree biomass changes from managed agroforestry plantings (the principal removal pathway) and soil organic carbon — together with two related activities, nitrogen fertilizer use and fossil fuel use. Tree biomass accounting adapts the AR-AMS0007 afforestation/reforestation methodology to agroforestry, and soil carbon is modelled with a calibrated RothC implementation. Baselines for yields, inputs, and management practices are built from public agricultural statistics and stratified by NUTS3 region. Beyond carbon, the project assesses sustainable-development co-benefits using the ICR ESES-SD Tool, complemented by an AgroEco Report Card, farmer surveys, and field assessments. The safeguards framework covers environmental and social risk screening, double counting (formally declared), and stakeholder engagement.