An estimated15 billion treesare cut down each year—more than 41 million per day. Given this pace of land degradation, it’s hard to imagine how traditional reforestation methods, which rely on the hand-planting of live seedlings, could ever keep up.BioCarbon Engineering提供另一种方式 - 一种设备，高度不超过两英尺，有可能每天种植400,000个种子，比人类进行的手工植物快150倍。

BioCarbon’s mission is to counteract land degradation by reforesting landscapes at an industrial scale using specialized drones that can快速恢复土地, firing pods containing nutrients and seeds into the ground.

This approach requires innovation—the drone hardware to fire seeds effectively, the mapping software to optimize planting patterns, and the plant science to maximize survival rates and improve biodiversity. That innovation requires investment. So while trees offer numerous benefits to society and the environment, BioCarbon isn’t doing this just to feel good. It recognizes that restoring degraded land is a growing business. The company is currently working on projects in Australia, Canada, Myanmar and the UK.

BioCarbon’s drone on a test site. Source: BioCarbon Engineering
BioCarbon’s drone on a test site. Source: BioCarbon Engineering

Making Money by Restoring Degraded Lands

Biocarbon Engineering是构成不断扩大的恢复经济的众多公司之一，这些公司具有景观恢复的企业，其核心是其客户价值主张的核心。WRI与自然保护协会（TNC）分析了该领域的140多家公司，以了解公司如何从恢复土地中赚钱。其中，有14家公司的中位销售增长在2017年达到100％，在新的report标题为The Business of Planting Trees: A Growing Investment Opportunity.

While these companies represent just a small subset of the broader sector, they showcase the diversity of business opportunities. Companies involved in the restoration economy range from early stage, pre-revenue startups to timber funds that manage billions of dollars. Similarly, the goods and services produced by these companies vary widely as well, from biofuels to climate-smart credit systems to green infrastructure.

例如：

  • Guayakí以现成的茶和能量饮料的形式重塑了美国市场的传统阿根廷“ Yerba Mate”饮料。由于Yerba Mate最好在阴影中种植，因此该公司与阿根廷，巴西和巴拉圭的小型农民和土著社区合作，以重新生成大西洋雨林，并在雨林顶篷下种植Yerba Mate。通过这种市场驱动的恢复方法，瓜亚基在2017年达到了6000万美元的销售额。
  • Ecoplanet竹子aims to alleviate the pressure on natural forests by developing sustainable bamboo as an alternative timber and fiber source for major industrial markets, including for toilet and tissue paper, renewable packaging materials for the food and beverage industry, and construction and housing materials. The company has plantations in Nicaragua, South Africa and Ghana, and expects to produce 280,000 tons of raw fiber per year by 2024.
  • New Forestsis a Timber Investment Management Organization whose investment strategies include ecosystem restoration in the United States, as well as sustainable forestry in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia. New Forests currently manages $3 billion in timberland assets, with 39 percent of the area managed for conservation outcomes and the remainder used for sustainable timber production.

越来越多的投资机会

These companies are responding to the global challenge createdby billions of hectares of degraded landthat cannot provide for a rising human population. Deforestation is a major driver of climate change—land restoration offers one of the best natural climate solutions to fight back. There is strong political momentum, as 39 governments have committed to working toward theBonn Challengegoal of restoring 150 million hectares of land by 2020 and 350 million hectares by 2030.

世界各地的公司，包括我们在我们的report，正在上升以满足恢复退化土地的需求。这些企业有潜力在大规模上带来利润和影响，从而为蓬勃发展的恢复经济做出了贡献，同时还为投资者赚钱。在这个关键时刻，股票和债券市场具有丰富的估值，投资者正在寻找下一个增长机会，世界上最古老，最有效的碳捕获技术正在等待：树木。

  • 了解更多：投资者，企业家和其他人可以通过电子邮件发送给我们nre@wri.org.

Note: Camille Rebelo, co-founder of EcoPlanet Bamboo, is part of the全球恢复委员会由WRI召集。Ecoplanet Bamboo在撰写此博客时没有影响力。