Past Restoration Experience

The questions asked in this section of the Expression of Interest allow us to understand your organization’s experience in land restoration.

In this article, we highlight each of the questions we ask in the Expression of Interest, explain why we ask it, address any common concerns around each question and provide you with resources/examples as needed.

If you have any further questions, you add them below as a comment or submit them here, and our support team will try to address them.

• How many years of restoration experience does your organization have?
• Which land use systems have you restored?
• What restoration practices have you used to restore land?
• Select detailed intervention types used to restore land
• How many hectares of degraded land has your organization restored since it was founded?
• How many hectares of degraded land has your organization restored in the past 36 months?
• How many trees has your organization restored or naturally regenerated since it was founded?
• How many trees has your organization planted, naturally regenerated or otherwise restored in the past 36 months?
• Describe the landscape where this restoration work occurred and indicate what percentage of your work took place in our target states
• Photos of past restoration work

 

Q: How many years of restoration experience does your organization have?*

Why we ask this question:
Although we have already asked when your organization was founded, many organizations start restoring land years after they became a legal organization. We want to know how many years your organization has been restoring land to ensure you have the experience needed to take on a significant restoration project.

How do I determine how many years of experience my organization has restoring land? This refers to the number of years your organization has been involved in actively restoring degraded land. For example, the number of years that you have planted trees or conducted erosion control work can be counted. However, if you only dug wells during the first years of your existence, that shouldn't be counted (but can be included in other sections of the application like your organization's mission). If your organization began to restore land significantly later than it was founded, make sure to only include the years after you began to work on restoration.

Q: What land use systems have you restored?*

Why we ask this question:

We ask this question to gain a better understanding of the types of restoration your organization has experience with and the approaches you have taken in previous projects. We want to know how organization has been restoring land to ensure you have the experience needed to take on a significant restoration project.

How do we define the eligible land use systems?

To learn more about our definitions for land use systems, please review this article:  A Guide to Target Land Use Systems & Restoration Practices.

Detailed definitions of each land use can be found below:

• Agroforest: An agroforest is productive, managed land containing a mix of woody perennial species (trees, shrubs, bamboos) and agricultural crops in a way that improves the agricultural productivity and ecological function of a site. This category includes agroforestry for shade grown crops (cacao, coffee), as well as planting trees at a low density to allow for continued full-sun agriculture, also known as intercropping or row cropping. Please note that silvopasture is its own separate land use system.
• Open Natural Ecosystem: Open Natural Ecosystems mainly comprise naturally open and often treeless habitats, ranging from savannas and scrublands to grasslands, ravines and dunes. Grasslands are generally open and continuous, fairly flat areas of grass. They are often located between temperate forests at high latitudes and deserts at subtropical latitudes.
• Natural Forest: A natural forest ecosystem is a rural landscape where the majority of trees are native species and features biologically integrated communities of plants, animals and microbes, together with the local soils (substrates) and atmospheres (climates) with which they interact.
• Mangrove: A mangrove is a group of salt-tolerant trees and shrubs that live in a coastal intertidal zone.
• Peatland: Peatlands are terrestrial wetland ecosystems in which waterlogged conditions prevent plant material from fully decomposing.
• Riparian Area / Wetland: Wetlands are areas where the soil is covered with water or can be present near the ground throughout the year, including marshes, swamps, bogs, and fens. They support both terrestrial and aquatic species. Riparian ecosystems encompass a suite of ecosystem types, including river banks, floodplains, and wetlands, that are characterized primarily by being transitional zones between terrestrial and aquatic realms.
• Silvopasture: A silvopasture system is productive, managed land containing a mix of woody perennial species (trees, shrubs, bamboos) and animal forage or pasture land to improve the agricultural productivity and ecological function of a site for continued use as pasture.
• Urban Forest: An urban forest encompasses the trees and shrubs in an urban area, including trees in yards, along streets and utility corridors, in protected areas, and in watersheds. This includes individual trees, street trees, green spaces with trees, and even the associated vegetation and the soil beneath the trees.
• Woodlot / Plantation: A plantation is a forest predominantly composed of intensively managed trees that are established through planting and/or deliberate seeding, with the explicit goal of harvesting and processing those trees for wood once they reach maturity. A woodlot is a type of plantation, predominantly managed by a single landholder or a community, to supply wood for construction and fuel to the landholder or community.
• Other: Any land use system that is not included in the above typology.

Q: Which restoration practices have you used to restore land?*

Why we ask this question:

We ask this question to gain a better understanding of the types of restoration your organization has experience with and the approaches you have taken in previous projects. We want to know how organization has been restoring land to ensure you have the experience needed to take on a significant restoration project.

How do we define the eligible restoration practices? Landscape restoration projects use a variety of techniques to restore land. Please indicate which core technique(s) you have used. To learn more about our definitions for restoration practices, please review this article:  A Guide to Target Land Use Systems & Restoration Practices.

Detailed definitions can be found below:

• Tree Planting: Tree planting is defined as the planting of seedlings or saplings over an area to meet specific goals. This includes all planting, including areas with no forest canopy and in areas with partial canopy coverage.
• Assisted Natural Regeneration: Assisted natural regeneration is the exclusion of threats (i.e. grazing, fire, invasive plants) that prevent natural regrowth from seeds and roots already present in the soil or from natural seed dispersal from nearby trees. This does not include any tree planting.
• Direct Seeding: Direct seeding is the active dispersal of seeds (preferably ecologically diverse, native seed mixes) that accelerate natural regrowth, provided the area is protected from disturbances. It includes only active collection and dispersal of seeds and excludes any natural dispersal that would occur without human intervention. This does not include any tree planting.

Q: Please select which of the more detailed interventions your organization has used to restore land?*

Why we ask this question:

Different restoration projects conceive of their work in different ways. We like to understand how you would categorize your own projects, outside of the set categories above.

How do I select the most relevant intervention types? Organizations that restore land understand their work in a variety of ways. Select all of the following categories that describe your past work. Please select the most relevant types from the list below:

• Farm Forestry
• Intercropping
• Agri-Horti-Forestry (Wadi)
• Mixed Species Plantation
• Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration
• Pastureland Development
• Grassland Restoration
• Trees on Bunds and Boundaries
• Bamboo Plantation
• Protection and Sustainable Harvesting of Forest Produce
• Value Chain Development for Non-Timber Forest Produce and Indigenous Crops
• Sustainable Agriculture/Food Forest Model
• Watershed Management
• Soil and Moisture Conservation
• Soil Carbon and Microbiome Management
• Removal/management of invasive species

Q: How many hectares of degraded land has your organization restored since it was founded?*

Why we ask this question:
We want to understand the total number of hectares your organization has been actively involved in  restoring since its founding to understand the impact and experience of your organization.

How do we define hectares restored? A hectare of land restored is defined as the total land area measured in hectares that has undergone restoration intervention. The land area under restoration includes more than active tree planting; for example, some land may not be planted while undergoing restoration. Instead, trees could be naturally regenerated on that land without active planting. Only count land that has benefitted from tree-based restoration techniques in your total.

Q: How many hectares of degraded land has your organization restored in the past 36 months?*

Why we ask this question:
We want to understand the total number of hectares your organization has been actively involved in  restoring in the past 36 months to evaluate your recent traction. We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic affected work in 2020 and 2021.

How we define hectares restored? A hectare of land restored is defined as the total land area measured in hectares that has undergone restoration intervention. The land area under restoration includes more than active tree planting. Some land may not be planted while undergoing restoration. Instead, trees could be naturally regenerated on that land without active planting. Only count land that has benefitted from tree-based restoration techniques in your total.

Q: How many trees has your organization restored or naturally regenerated since it was founded?*

Why we ask this question:
We want to understand the total number of trees that have been restored or naturally regenerated since your organization was founded to evaluate the scale and the impact of your organization's work.

How do we define a tree? A tree is defined as a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to 5 meters or higher, bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.

What do you mean by trees restored? We count "trees restored," not "planted." Only trees that survive to maturity after they are planted or naturally regenerated should be counted toward this total. Naturally regenerating trees must attain a verifiable age of over 1 year to be counted as "restored."

Q: How many trees has your organization planted, naturally regenerated or otherwise restored in the past 36 months?*

Why we ask this question:
We want to understand the total number of trees that have been restored or naturally regenerated in the past 36 months to evaluate your recent traction. We understand that the COVID-19 pandemic affected work in 2020 and 2021.

How do we define a tree? A tree is defined as a woody perennial plant, typically having a single stem or trunk growing to 5 meters or higher, bearing lateral branches at some distance from the ground.

What do you mean by trees restored? We count "trees restored," not "planted." Only trees that survive to maturity after they are planted or naturally regenerated should be counted toward this total. Naturally regenerating trees must attain a verifiable age of over 1 year to be counted as "restored."

Q: Describe the landscape where this restoration work occurred and indicate what percentage of your work took place in our target states?*

Why we ask this question:
In order to assess your eligibility for this opportunity, it is important for our team to understand your relevant restoration experience. Each of our target locations have unique bio-physical, social and environmental conditions so understanding your familiarity with the target states will be important. This information helps us evaluate your capacity to carry out effective and impactful restoration projects in a variety of settings within the landscapes.  

What do we expect? Please describe the socio-economic as well as bio-physical composition of the landscape where this restoration work occurred. Additional information on agro-climatic zone, terrain, vegetation type, etc. is welcome.

If you have worked in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, or Maharashtra, please specify what you have accomplished in these states. Breakdown by tree count, hectares restored, and target land use systems used if you are able.

Q: Photos of past restoration work*

Why we ask this question:
Photos provide proof of and context for your restoration experience. Please upload as many photos of your past restoration work as possible. Planting photos, before-and-after images, community engagement pictures, geotagged photos, and aerial images are especially valuable.

What kind of pictures can I upload to show photos of past restoration work: You are advised to upload at least high-quality pictures of your past restoration work. You can upload individual photos as large as 25 MB. The file types accepted are .png, .jpg, and .tif. You are advised to also upload geotagged photos to help the review team confirm the location of the work done.

Images may include people involved and/or the landscape being restored. Pictures that show the landscape before and after restoration are highly encouraged. Note that these photos may be featured on our webpage and in our other media, if you are selected for funding.

What types of images are recommended? Planting photos, before-and-after images, community engagement pictures, geotagged photos, and aerial images are especially valuable.