Eco Trust Uganda

Eco Trust Uganda, formally the Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST), is a not-for-profit conservation organization established in Uganda in 1999. Its stated purpose is to conserve biological diversity and enhance social welfare by promoting innovative and sustainable environmental management. Unlike a conventional environmental NGO, ECOTRUST positions itself as a conservation finance intermediary: it channels money and incentives to thousands of smallholders who undertake landscape restoration as a business in rural communities, and it seeks to crowd in private-sector capital by marketing environmental services. The organization's flagship program is Trees for Global Benefit (TGB), a carbon-offsetting scheme operating under the Plan Vivo System. Through TGB, smallholder farmers receive payments for planting and maintaining trees that sequester carbon, generating verified carbon credits while restoring degraded land. ECOTRUST describes its niche as delivering conservation finance "where it matters most" and making restoration investments that promote climate-resilient solutions on a commercial basis. ECOTRUST's vision is "Climate Resilient Communities and Sustainable Landscapes," and its mission is to conserve biological diversity and enhance social welfare through innovative and sustainable environmental management. Its work is guided by stated core values including accountability. The organization operates primarily in Uganda, working with rural communities, and plays an intermediary role between local land managers and buyers of environmental services such as carbon offsets. As a not-for-profit trust, ECOTRUST is not listed on any stock exchange and does not have publicly traded ownership. It is registered and headquartered in Uganda and is known in the conservation-finance and carbon-markets space for its Plan Vivo-certified community carbon program.

The Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) was established in Uganda in 1999 as a not-for-profit conservation organization. From its founding, its mandate was to conserve biological diversity and enhance social welfare by promoting innovative and sustainable environmental management. It was created as a trust structure, meaning it operates for a charitable or public-benefit purpose rather than for shareholder profit. Over time, ECOTRUST developed a distinctive niche in conservation finance. Rather than acting solely as a grant-funded conservation body, it built mechanisms to deliver money and incentives directly to rural smallholders who undertake restoration as a business. A central part of this approach was the creation and growth of its flagship Trees for Global Benefit (TGB) program, a carbon-offsetting scheme operating under the Plan Vivo System. TGB pays smallholder farmers for tree planting and maintenance, generating carbon credits while restoring degraded landscapes. ECOTRUST describes its role as delivering conservation finance "where it matters most" and deploying conservation incentives in ways that let it consider investments others cannot. It works through innovative community structures and solutions designed to attract additional capital from the private sector into green opportunities represented by landscape restoration as a business. It also plays an intermediary role and takes leadership in marketing environmental services. The organization's vision is "Climate Resilient Communities and Sustainable Landscapes," and its mission remains to conserve biological diversity and enhance social welfare by promoting innovative and sustainable environmental management. Its work is guided by stated core values, including accountability, which it says it honors in decisions, relationships, and daily work. ECOTRUST continues to operate in Uganda, focused on climate-resilient restoration investments and community-based carbon programs.

• 1999

  Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) established in Uganda as a not-for-profit conservation organization.

• Development of the flagship Trees for Global Benefit (TGB) carbon-offsetting scheme under the Plan Vivo System.

Conservation finance intermediary delivering incentives to smallholders and crowding in private-sector capital for landscape restoration.

• Trees for Global Benefit (TGB)

  A carbon-offsetting scheme under the Plan Vivo System that pays smallholders for tree planting and maintenance.

1. 1About Us – ECOTRUSTecotrust.or.ug
2. 2Eco Trust Uganda – Wikidatawikidata.org