Why Hasn't Reforestation Scaled? Bridging Community Stewardship and Corporate Capital
The Understory - a podcast where nature restoration gets realShow Notes
Everyone agrees reforestation needs to scale, and everyone agrees private capital has to be part of the answer. So why is it still so hard? In this episode, hosts Dr. Sweta Chakraborty and Jad Daley dig into the gap between what corporate buyers and investors require and what the communities actually stewarding the land can offer — and what it takes to build a bridge that works for both sides. They're joined by two people who've spent careers closing that gap from opposite ends: Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, who represents pastoralist and Indigenous communities in Africa's Sahel, and Christine Cadigan, who built a program making U.S. carbon markets accessible to small family forest owners. The conversation gets specific — aggregation, contract length, property rights, permanence risk, and where the money actually goes (Hindou notes that less than 7% of the $1.7B pledged to Indigenous peoples at COP26 reached communities). It ends with a live agreement to pilot something together. Hosts Dr. Sweta Chakraborty — CEO, North America, We Don't Have Time Jad Daley — President, Terraformation Guests Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim — Co-chair, International Indigenous Peoples' Forum on Climate Change; founder of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad. A Mbororo pastoralist, she works on participatory 3D mapping, Indigenous knowledge, and direct-access climate finance. Christine Cadigan — EVP of Carbon Origination, American Forest Foundation; architect of the Family Forest Carbon Program and herself a family forest owner.
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The Understory is a podcast about restoration where practitioners can real talk — no polished conference-stage performances, no organizational spin, just honest conversation about what's working, what isn't, and what it will actually take to reforest the world the right way.