Restoring Nepal’s hillsides: how The Green Intelligence combines productive forests, technology and blended finance

Ask the oldest farmers in Nepal’s Bagmati province what the landscape once looked like, and the answer is always the same: greener, wetter, more alive. The Green Intelligence, a Dutch-Nepalese social enterprise supported by Partners for Water, is working to restore this landscape through productive agroforestry, a purpose-built mobile app, and an innovative blended finance model. Co-founder Matthijs van Rijn explains how a landscape approach is restoring fragile hillsides into resilient, income-generating forests.

In the mountains of Nepal’s Bagmati province, monoculture farming has left soils exposed and fragile. Monsoon rains are becoming increasingly intense and unpredictable, and when they fall, the water rushes downhill rather than soaking in. Wells dry up, and landslides destroy crops and homes. It was here, in 2021, that former engineer Van Rijn founded The Green Intelligence: a social enterprise implementing productive agroforests, including fruit, nuts and medicinal trees alongside existing crops, to improve both livelihoods and the landscape.

From village conversations to a landscape approach

“It all started with a few trees on a friend’s plot and plenty of conversations with local stakeholders,” shares van Rijn. “I drove around on my motorbike and asked the oldest people in villages what the landscape looked like before.” The conversations revealed that there used to be diverse, productive land, but also exposed the pressures that have taken over: less rainfall, ageing communities, and crops that deteriorate quickly and often don’t reach the market. Productive agroforestry emerged as the answer.

“Now, farmers are brought in through local stakeholder consultations at the municipality level,” says van Rijn. Those who sign up receive free training and trees – the costs are pre-financed by The Green Intelligence and recouped over time through carbon credits. The species are chosen in co-creation with Dutch and Nepali foresters and guided by what farmers themselves want to grow. “We look at what thrives at the various altitudes, what the farmer needs, and what can generate income,” Van Rijn explains.

An app built for the field

A purpose-built mobile app is what makes this approach work at scale. Farmers use it to register trees with geotagged photos, map their land by walking its perimeter, and access instructional videos on planting and tree care. “The app works offline and syncs automatically when connectivity is restored,” says van Rijn. “When a farmer uploads a photo of a healthy tree, our team reviews it remotely and releases a small financial reward – incentivising good care while generating verified data for carbon credit registration.” For farmers less familiar with smartphones, a community helper function was introduced, allowing a younger member to register trees on their behalf. “The platform now has 1,450 registered users and nearly 13,000 trees uploaded.”

A landscape-based approach

With support from Partners for Water, The Green Intelligence is now applying a landscape-based approach to catchment restoration, addressing degraded land not farm by farm, but at the scale of an entire municipality. “We work simultaneously on private agricultural plots and public land,” says van Rijn. The project brings together local governments, community forest user groups and farmers’ cooperatives in one shared effort. “Over the past year and a half, this has resulted in 250 hectares of agroforestry implemented and 250 hectares of community forest restored, impacting 7,200 community members.”

Connecting trees to international finance

“To make landscape restoration financially viable, we combine international carbon finance, local government contributions and development funding,” says van Rijn. Carbon credits are being developed under Gold Standard certification, a process requiring extensive documentation and independent verification. The app is essential here,” van Rijn adds. “Without the verified, geotagged data it collects, we cannot register carbon credits or provide transparency. It is what connects the trees to international climate finance and carbon markets.”

Dutch energy company Greenchoice is among the first international clients to commit to long-term climate finance for public land restoration at scale. “Their long-term commitment allows us to build trust and lasting relationships with local communities,” says van Rijn. “This is key to the success of the project”. Crucially, it also ensures the work initiated under the Partners for Water funding can continue and scale beyond the project period. Green Intelligence is currently exploring how to create market linkages for forest produce from the project sites.

When the community sees it works

The clearest sign of progress came from a single overgrazed hillside. After half a year of replanting and a grazing moratorium, grass returned. “Farmers had more fodder for their animals than they had seen in years and immediately asked if we could do the same on the next slope,” says van Rijn. But this is just a short-term example, he continues: “Ultimately, success is when communities generate a sustainable income from their land without chemicals, and when water levels and biodiversity are recovering. That will take thirty years.”
Meanwhile, The Green Intelligence is scaling the approach beyond Nepal. “Currently, we are also operational in Kenya, and in conversation with potential partners in Tanzania, Sierra Leone, Bhutan and Rwanda,” says van Rijn. “The same approach, adapted to each new context.”