The Biocarbon and Rural Development (BIODEV) project is an initiative to achieve developmental and environmental benefits that can be accrued from building biological or natural carbon through improved agroforestry and forestry management and tree planting. This is referred to as “high-value biocarbon development”.  

The four-year project aims to generate information that is critical for linking climate change mitigation efforts with those aimed to help people adapt to climate change in Burkina Faso, Mali and Sierra Leone. The ultimate aim is to improve the livelihoods of rural communities in those countries.

BIODEV is implemented by World Agroforestry (ICRAF), the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), theUniversity of Eastern Finland and the University of Helsinki, in collaboration with national organizations and government ministries at national and local levels in the three countries in which BIODEV works.

What are its objectives?

• To identify and implement integrated interventions, each tailored for a specific context, that can help achieve high-value, bio-carbon based rural development in select landscapes
• To develop replicable tools, methods and models for high-value bio-carbon interventions and approaches, which can be applied to scale up positive results
• To improve strategies, policies and capacity for scaling-up high-value bio-carbon approaches at national and regional levels

A three-pronged strategy has been developed to ensure the project goal and objectives are met. This includes diagnostic analyses of key barriers and opportunities to bio-carbon development, collaboration with other existing initiatives, and strengthening policies, institutions and capacities so that findings can be replicated in other landscapes. Improved national capacity in issues related to bio-carbon is key in the project.