Dealflow | June 29, 2021

Land Accelerator gets a worm’s eye view of Peru’s conservation entrepreneurs

Jessica Pothering
ImpactAlpha Editor

Jessica Pothering

ImpactAlpha, June 29 — Blockchain forestry. Water “planting.” New superfoods. Twenty-five entrepreneurs participated in World Resources Institute’s second country-specific Land Accelerator program, called xPeru. The two-month program provides technical assistance and investment readiness support to startups and grassroots land conservation and restoration initiatives.

Treejer is building a blockchain-based reforestation project funding platform. ACCA is reforesting native trees while helping replenish the natural water supply in wetland areas. Agroindustrias JE is restoring the native camu camu tree while helping Indigenous communities earn income from its fruit, a nutrient-rich superfood.

Also: Agropex is building “intelligent nurseries” for native and exotic seedlings that can reforest northern Peru. MILHA Bambú, Kallpaeli, Dream D’LI and Forest Bambu are restoring degraded lands while boosting Peru’s bamboo industry. Collect the whole set.

WRI’s first country-specific Land Accelerator was held in Niger in 2018. Next up: Ecuador. The Peru and Ecuador programs are aligned with Initiative 20×20, an effort by Latin American and Caribbean countries to protect and restore 50 million hectares of forests and other landscapes by 2030.