Project Alpha: Restoring Brazil's Savannas

The Cerrado savannas of southern Brazil are vast — and highly degraded, with large areas having been cleared for pastures and farms.

Enter “Project Alpha.” Designed by BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group (TIG), in partnership with Conservation International, the project aims to restore an area twice the size of Manhattan — and find new ways to pay for it. Bringing together two groups often seen as adversaries — conservationists and, yes, timber operators — the plan pairs the restoration of natural forest with the development of tree plantations.

In the coming years, TIG will plant, conserve and restore nearly 275,000 hectares (741,000 acres) of degraded land in South America, capturing 32 million metric tons of climate-warming carbon — the equivalent of taking 7 million cars off the road.