March 25, 2021Viridis Terra and its Partners

Viridis Terra

Founded in 2015, Viridis Terra is a Canadian greentech company specializing in restoring and return to the production of degraded lands, including mining sites, addressing the global problem of land degradation and biodiversity loss, in addition to combating climate change.

The company has developed a broad technological package to implement Integrated Forest and Agroforest Landscapes projects on a large scale (IFLR®). Based on a mix of biotechnologies (including proprietary biotechnologies, other cutting-edge technologies, and social innovation, this combination increases land and tree productivity by two to three times compared to traditional approaches. Their synergy ensures sustainability, reduces operating costs, creates new revenue streams for landowners and local communities, and allows scaling-up of our activities at a very large scale in a transparent way.

Viridis Terra currently operates in Canada, the Caribbean, Latin America and West Africa.

The Viridis Terra Team

Our multidisciplinary team comprises forest engineers, agronomists, ecologists-biologists, engineers, hydrogeologists, environmental professionals, and agroforestry economists, all specialized in degraded land restoration. ViridisTerrians are a happy mix of experienced people with more than 50 years of forestry expertise who rub shoulders with dynamic and innovative young people.

The team also includes experts in social and environmental responsibility (CSR), relationship and community development, information technology, finance and communication.

This multidisciplinary team has global experience in many countries on all continents, in the fields of natural resources and extractive sectors, restoration and reforestation of degraded land, conservation and biodiversity, community relations, and many others.

To learn more about our team members' background and expertise, visit our website.

Our partners

Over the past few years, Viridis Terra has developed a network of outstanding partners to complement its expertise and ensure its activities' success.

In all the countries where the company operates, it forms partnerships with Canadian NGOs such as CECI, SOCODEVI, DID and CUSO. These organizations have the advantage of being already present in the field and have developed a great deal of experience and work with local communities.

Viridis Terra has also initiated several Canadian research and development partnerships with universities such as Laval University, McGill University, the University of Quebec and the University of Sherbrooke, and research centres such as CERFO, Biopterre, Natural Resource Canada (NRCan and the Canadian National Research Council (NRC).

Our financial partners include the Bank of Development of Canada, Desjardins, Investissement Québec, Investissement Québec International, Futurpreneur Canada, New Beauce Economic Development and many private investors.

Carbon sequestration and efficiency models have been developed and validated in collaboration with NEL-i, a world-renowned firm in the field.

The reason we selected Peru as the first country where we will deploy the early TreesOfLives investments is the quality of private, civil, and public partners mobilized around the projects. Here are some examples of organizations with which Viridis Terra has formed partnerships in Peru:

• Conservation International is an international non-governmental organization and world leader in the conservation and restoration of nature that has been present in the Peruvian Amazon for more than a decade.
• Interbank, a subsidiary of the Intercorp Group, is one of the country's three largest commercial banks.
• Reforesta Peru is the country's most prestigious reforestation company, with more than 8,000 hectares of agroforestry systems and 2,000 hectares of forest plantations established in the Peruvian Amazon.
• Agri-food companies such as Candela, Cocomar and Wawasana are ready to purchase all agri-food commodities produced on the first 3,000 hectares.
• The SERFOR is the forestry department of the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture.
• INIA, IIAP and CEPIAGRI are government research centres that have reforested new experimental forests and agroforests in the country.
• The University of Molina and the University of San Martin are important academic partners.
• DEVIDA, the national commission for drug-free development and life, supports us on the ground to help identify too risky places and those that are more stable.

Finally, Viridis Terra forms partnerships with many associations in the regions where its restoration and reforestation activities of degraded land are carried out. Any group of landowners who want to be part of the projects must first mobilize around an association.

As a result, Viridis Terra's strong network and partners can add enormous value to all these degraded land restoration projects.

Our governance

Viridis Terra has established an Advisory Committee made up of world-class and renowned members in various fields. Their backgrounds and expertise reinforce decision-making mechanisms and raise the standards of corporate strategies.

A Board of Directors, made up of members with solid expertise in business management, finance, marketing technologies and the environment, including biodiversity and the carbon market, also supports the company.

The Viridis Terra Group has also established a high-calibre Peruvian Advisory Committee that includes members with forestry expertise, degraded land restoration, and community relations.

TreesOfLives

We created the TreesOfLives Fund to enable everyone, individuals, businesses and institutions to join the adventure and mission of Viridis Terra. TreesOfLives constitutes the vehicle through which investments in forest landscape restoration projects can be made in exchange for financial returns while offsetting carbon and ecological footprint and positively impacting biodiversity and the seventeen (17) Sustainability Goals of the United Nations (SDGs).

Approval of TreesOfLives investments requires an intensive five-step due diligence process. First, the Viridis Terra Team develops investment projects and opportunities in collaboration with degraded landowners using land management models. Second, the models are verified by an external Advisory Committee made up of national and international experts, such as IIAP, ICRAF, CATIE, among other well-known organizations. Third, following this external Advisory Committee's approval, the projects are presented to the TreesOfLives Investment Committee. Fourth, the Investment Committee analyzes, evaluates, selects and approves the projects in which TreesOfLives invests. The TreesOfLives Director Board must then approve their decision.

See TreesOfLives' governance structure on our website.

Finally, the assets' value is reassessed every year by Viridis Terra based on restored ecosystems' productivity. This assessment is carried out by the Deloitte Group, which acts as an independent auditor.