Native forest restoration and regenerative grazing on degraded cattle land in Costa Rica.
GANBOS Guanacaste is rePLANET's flagship operational project in Costa Rica. It works with cattle ranchers across Heredia and Huetar Norte to convert degraded pasture into a mosaic of native forest and regeneratively grazed grassland — protecting jaguar and howler monkey habitat while keeping local livelihoods intact.
The project applies the Allan-Savory rotational grazing method on retained pasture and uses pioneer plus successor species for reforested areas, accelerating natural succession.
Costa Rica's cattle belt holds some of the highest-value biodiversity in Central America, but decades of unsustainable ranching have stripped soils, dried watersheds and isolated forest patches. GANBOS Guanacaste rebuilds connectivity, raises productivity for ranchers and generates verifiable carbon and biodiversity outcomes.
Working with 17 farms across the project area, GANBOS Guanacaste converts degraded pasture in four steps: rotational grazing restores soil biology, pioneer species are planted to accelerate succession, mature native canopy follows, and biodiversity recovers across the landscape.
Carbon credits are issued under Verra VM0047 (Afforestation, Reforestation and Revegetation). Biodiversity uplift is measured using the rePLANET-developed Wallacea Trust methodology, targeting a 300% biodiversity gain over baseline. BeZero project rating: BBB–A.
Hectares restored or protected
Tonnes CO₂e over project lifetime
Biodiversity gain (peer reviewed)
Credits available
Project design, baseline ecology, farmer onboarding and PDD development.
294 hectares planted across 17 farms, 50% Balsa and 50% other natives.
Replanting of high-mortality areas, refreshed planting strategy, expansion of ground team.
Annual carbon issuance, ongoing biodiversity monitoring and farmer benefit payments.
Talk to our team about credits, partnerships, or how this project fits into your nature strategy.
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