The Programme – Forest Commons

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Our Story & Objectives

Forest Commons (formerly called Arbres Sauveurs) aims to develop innovative interdisciplinary reforestation and agroforestry projects, centred around tree species that help local and vulnerable communities achieve longterm food security and overall well-being, that revitalise the natural environment and biodiversity, and that work to offset the adverse effects of climate change.

Stemming from a strong science-based background, guided by the principals of biomimicry, and adhering to our core premise of strengthening the human-nature connection, Forest Commons focuses on the reintegration of important multifunctional trees into local culture and ecology through the creation of small-scale agroforestry projects, which respond to the nuanced needs of the regions in which and communities with whom we work, namely in Haiti, Mexico, India and France.

Among such multifunctional trees, we place particular emphasis on oxalogenous trees – a unique set of tree species which have the ability to sequester atmospheric carbon not only in their wood, but also by transforming it (in symbiosis with funghi and bacteria) into calcium rock in the soil around their root systems, where they can store the carbon for at least tens of thousands of years!

The Mayanut Tree (MNT) serves as a pivotal species in our projects in Haiti and Mexico. In addition to possessing strong oxalogenous capacities, the Mayanut produces a highly nutritious nut that can help ensure local community food sovereignty longterm and offset the negative effects of climate change on traditional farming methods.

In addition to our agroforestry projects, we have recently developed a carefully-calculated atypical carbon compensation partnership strategy, harnessing the sequestration benefits of oxalogenous trees and favouring meaningful relationships with individuals and small organisations.

By responding to the pressing issues of our time, our programme’s actions help reinforce ecological and social resilience, one seed at a time.

Our History: From Research Seed to Programme Growth

Biomimicry Europa’s Forest Commons programme is the direct fruit of collaboration between biomimicry experts and scientists/researchers of oxalogenous trees (namely Eric Verrecchia from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland, who first discovered the unique carbon transformation and storage qualities of these species). Together with a consortium of partners, they aimed to apply this research into concrete agroforestry projects that could harness the benefits of these remarkable and important trees.

Accordingly, Forest Commons (formerly called Arbres Sauveurs) was born in 2010 following the participation of Biomimicry Europa’s scientific team in the CO2SolStock programme (developed by the Greenloop biomimicry consulting office). Forest Commons then launched pilot projects in Haiti and India in the same year, choosing these countries based on the known existence of oxalogenous species, as well as the recognition that sustainable agroforestry constitutes a crucial strategy to help reinforce local resilience in these vulnerable regions.

In 2018, Forest Commons expanded to launch its Árboles de Vida project in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. In addition to our international projects, we started a small carbon compensation programme in 2019, and as of 2020 we have been exploring the creation of projects in our programme’s home country of France. The evolution of our intended projects in France will take a local and cross-disciplinary approach, and range from urban agriculture initiatives to arts-based and educational activities, all with the aim to fortify holistic agroforestry and local food security, revitalise biodiversity, offset the negative impacts of climate change and help to reconnect people with nature.

Our parent organisation, Biomimicry Europa, was founded in 2006 by Gauthier Chapelle, Raphaël Stevens, Tarik Chekchak, Caroline Zaoui, Karim Lapp, Gaétan Dartevelle, Kalina Raskin, Daniel Rodary and Janine Benyus (the American naturalist who first formalised Biomimicry in the 1990s and who founded the US-based Biomimicry Institute).

Biomimicry at the Root: A Foundation for Resilience

Biomimicry takes at its heart the idea of innovation inspired by nature in order to imagine modes of existence, consumption and production that solve human problems while keeping the planet’s natural and biological resources intact. By observing and mimicking the genius of nature, Biomimicry offers a means to design a truly sustainable and resilient world. Janine Benyus, who first formalised Biomimicry as a concept in the 1990s, suggests we value nature as a “Model, Measure, and Mentor”, prioritising what we can learn (including about our own connection with nature), rather than what we can extract.

Applied to sustainable agroforestry and existing at the intersection between reforestation and permaculture, Biomimicry adds a technical dimension that draws inspiration from the observation of mature and highly productive forest ecosystems. As such, a biomimetic agroforestry design aims to imitate existing ecological functions, prioritises complexity (in contrast to modern agriculture that simplifies ecological services by concentrating on just a few species), and focuses on a systems approach, which necessarily factors in the human component. The most productive ecosystems in the world (tropical rainforests and coral reefs for example) show the importance of complexity. Biomimicry reiterates how the increase in system complexity, even modestly, can allow for very significant increases in production and resilience.

Extending beyond just the natural world, Forest Commons also aims to create a “symbiosis” of different actors in all of our project areas – in other words to forge mutually-beneficial collaborations with a wide range of stakeholders, as is underscored by the principles of biomimicry! Such an approach inevitably renders our projects more resilient, durable and adaptable as they continually evolve and factor in the expanding human dimension over the longterm.

The Trunk of the Matter: Oxalogenous and Mayanut Trees at our Core

Oxalogenous tree species exhibit a particular metabolic feature, an ‘oxalate-carbonate pathway’, that forms oxalate ions and, in bacterial-fungal symbioses, transforms them into calcium carbonate (CaCO3), or limestone, where they are stored in the soil surrounding the tree’s root system, creating one of the most durable carbon sinks yet discovered.

Planting oxalogenous trees has been at the heart of our programme since its inception, with the Mayanut Tree (MNT) being a primary focus for our projects in Haiti and Mexico based on the myriad benefits it brings to its ecological and social contexts. In addition to its oxalogenous capacities, MNT helps to restore soils, resist drought, survive for up to on thousand years, provide rich fodder for livestock (including helping to increase lactation in cattle), and produce a highly nutritious (and easily preservable) nut for human consumption.

As we believe that ongoing research on oxalogenous trees is critically needed, Forest Commons incorporates research support as a key element in our programme objectives. Accordingly, we have thus far supported two Masters students from the University of Lausanne to conduct research in Haiti and Mexico, and we hope this is just the beginning of ongoing research collaborations.

The student research reports, as well as more info on oxalogenous species and the Mayanut Tree, can be found on our Resource page).

Our Actions: The Key Branches of Programme Activity

Small-scale Agroforestry Projects in Haiti, India, Mexico and France

Forest Commons systematically collaborates with local partners in the countries where we work, who are the principal agents and beneficiaries of our projects. Such local partnerships include farmer groups in Haiti, marginalised communities and native apiculture collectives in Mexico and locally-involved organisations in France.

Starting from the idea that local farmers are the main actors contributing to the sustainable evolution of rural landscapes, we believe that reforestation programmes will be most successful when the trees planted meet the specific needs and interests of these groups. Accordingly, we prioritise the planting of tree species that provide multifunctional benefits for not just the natural environment, but also the people who most closely depend on it.

We consider multifunctional trees as those exhibiting a variety of benefits from a socioeconomic/cultural and ecological standpoint, for example possessing oxalogenous qualities, helping rural communities achieve food security, providing nutritious fodder, helping to regenerate soils, showing resistance to drought, or even those that simply help inspire wonder in and reconnection with the natural world to which we are inextricably linked.

Carbon Compensation: Atypical and Carefully Calculated

According to the European Co2SolStock project, reforestation with oxalogenous tree species offers one of the most promising methods of sequestering atmospheric carbon longterm.

Far from proposing just a simple CO2 / tree calculation, our carbon offset programme favours holistic resilience, both in terms of the natural environment as well as the communities that interact with it. Guided by nature and a living systems approach, our compensation calculation at 20 € a tonne is cautious and conservative, factoring in a number of security buffers to ensure the desired amount of carbon is indeed sequestered over the longterm. In other words, we aim for a resilient, robust and generous model: like nature!

Furthermore, because we prioritise reforestation activities carried out by local farmers, and the planting of trees (oxalogenous and otherwise) that offer agroforestry potential for communities alongside ecological benefits to regional ecosystems, our carbon compensation strategy offers countless associated benefits that extend far beyond the singular goal of carbon sequestration. As such, we favour quality over quantity, offering small-scale but high impact solutions, and we firmly believe that the best stored carbon is that which is not emitted in the first place.

More details on our Carbon Compensation programme here.

Programme Successes: The Fruits of Our Efforts at a Glance

– Over 300,000 trees planted to date in Haiti, 80,000 in Mexico and 5000 in India;
– The establishment of 9 small nurseries in 8 rural communities in Mexico, and continued support to 10 nurseries in Haiti.
– Awareness raising and trainings for over 20,500 people in Haiti and Mexico on the uses and benefits of the Mayanut tree, including how to process, transform and cook with MNT, as well as on agroforestry best practices and tree care techniques more generally;
– Prioritisation of the participation of women in all project activities and the empowerment of women in leadership positions (in Mexico, for example, the project’s three primary lead roles are all held by women).
– The creation of durable networks of local community members, scientists, agroecologists, Mayanut and agroforestry experts, and other relevant stakeholders, which will help ensure longterm project sustainability and success for our projects in Mexico and Haiti.
– The beginning of the creation of a Youth and Schools Programme in Mexico to educate and inspire school children on the benefits of trees and the natural environment more broadly.
– Direct economic benefits to multiple actors in some of the most marginalised communities in Mexico and Haiti, including a number of benefits going directly to women.
– Support for 2 Masters students from the University of Lausanne to conduct research in the field in Haiti and Mexico on oxalogenous tree species, adding invaluable contributions to this growing field of study.

Discover a short presentation of our programme (in French) created by the documentary series “Nature=Futur !”, which is dedicated to bio-inspired projects. This video was made in 2015 with the programme’s old name, Arbres Sauveurs.

Our key cOncepts at a glance

Multi-functional trees

We prioritise the planting of trees that provide a multitude of both environmental and social services, to best fortify their surrounding ecosystems and reinforce lasting resilience. We place particular emphasis on the participation of women and youth; on aligning our reforestation and agroforestry efforts with the mitigation of the adverse effects of climate change, especially for vulnerable communities; and on helping these communities achieve direct and sustainable food autonomy.

Small is beautiful (and less risky)

Our initiatives are small-scale (+/- 30,000 trees per year) and human-centred, recognising that even a few trees can make a significant impact at the individual/community level. We encourage wide-spread participation and value training and capacity-building of local stakeholders as of equal importance as the planting of trees, in order to ensure such trees and the broader natural environment are valued and sustainably managed over the longterm.

Oxalogenous trees

A unique species, oxalogenous trees sequester CO2 not just in their wood, but also in the form of limestone – transformed in symbiosis with fungi and bacteria – in the soil around their root systems, where they can store the carbon for tens or even hundreds of thousands of years! They are thus particularly valuable species from a carbon sequestration stand-point.

The Mayanut tree – a programme pillar

The Mayanut tree has the ability to live for up to one thousand years, it is resistant to drought, has oxalogenous capacities, exhibits numerous benefits for the restoration and regeneration of local soils, and produces a highly nutritious nut that can help ensure community food sovereignty, which is especially important for rural farmers who are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. MNT is therefore a pivotal species to help reinforce local biodiversity and environmental and social resiliency!

Sequestering carbon “between friends”

We propose a small-scale, carefully-examined carbon offsetting programme, which prioritises relationships with individuals and small organisations who are aligned with our vision of the intersection between nature and culture, and with whom we can engage in meaningful exchanges. Furthermore, our conservative calculations guarantee that the desired amount of carbon is indeed sequestered over the longterm.

Valuing the Human-Nature Connection

At the heart of our work is the recognition of the importance of the human-nature connection. Whether through human-centred agroforestry projects, or engaging local schools and youth in planting and environmental education activities, or through the creation of projects linking the arts and sciences, we aim to inspire stakeholders to value, respect, safeguard and forge a deeper relationship with the natural world of which we are an inseparable part.