Founded in 1999,Environmental Conservation Trust of Uganda (ECOTRUST) has impacted society in its 27 years journey of promoting conservation financing, biodiversity restoration, and sustainable livelihoods in Uganda,
ECOTRUST Executive Director Pauline Nantongo Kalunda describes the journey as both a personal and institutional milestone, noting that longevity in the conservation sector is itself an achievement.
“Today, ECOTRUST works with more than 54,000 households and supports the restoration and management of over 70,000 hectares of land across five major landscapes,” Nantongo said.
“Our work has always focused on ensuring that conservation is not only environmentally important, but also economically meaningful for local communities.”she added.
According to Natongo ECOTRUST Trees for Global Benefits programme launched in 2003 has connected smallholder farmers to voluntary carbon markets while promoting sustainable land restoration and improved livelihoods.
“ It has engaged more than 50,000 farmers who have planted millions of trees across 34,000 hectares, generating approximately $8.7 million in carbon payments and sequestering over 7.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. Cumulatively, smallholder farmer activities have grossed $23 million, approximately UGX. 6 billion, in conservation finance, restoring over 70,000 hectares across five major landscapes,”he stated.
She further says from initial operations in the Queen Elizabeth conservation landscape, the organisation has expanded to the Rwenzori Mountains, Mount Elgon, Murchison Falls, Northern Uganda, and the Mpologoma landscape, a geographic footprint that reflects both growing ambition and deepening community trust.
ECOTRUST has supported farmers to establish enterprises across a broad range of value chains, including timber production, coffee growing, cocoa farming, fruit cultivation, medicinal extracts, honey production, fish farming, and fuel wood production.
“The organisation has helped communities access financing through carbon credits, the emerging biodiversity credits market, and private conservation investments,”she stressed.
“Approximately 80 percent of the organisation’s financing now comes from private philanthropy, conservation service agreements, and its endowment fund, with only 20 per cent drawn from public donor support. The impact of these initiatives is far greater than the environmental benefits,” Nantongo said.
ECOTRUST Board Chairperson Isaac Kapalaga praised the organisation’s growth and contribution to expanding conservation efforts across Uganda since its establishment, singling out the expansion into Northern Uganda as a particularly meaningful chapter.
“As one of the founders of ECOTRUST, it is deeply fulfilling to see how far the organisation has come and the impact it continues to make in communities across the country,” Kapalaga said. “Our commitment remains focused on reaching more communities and ensuring that conservation delivers real social and economic value to ordinary Ugandans.”
Future Plans
ECOTRUST has set a target to expand its footprint to more than 16.5 million Ugandans across 33 districts, restoring at least 60,000 additional hectares of degraded land while creating economic value from conservation, climate change adaptation and mitigation.
These targets align directly with Uganda’s Nationally Determined Contribution commitments and resonate with the finance ministry’s 2025 deal book of priority projects for private investors, suggesting the organisation’s next chapter is as much about policy influence as it is about trees.
Community Impacts
Betty Masamba Kalema, a farmer who joined ECOTRUST’s Trees for Global Benefits (TGB) project back in 2003 says the organization has directly provided climate finance cash transfers to over 54,000 rural Ugandan households.
“ECOTRUST manages over 70,000 hectares of land across the country and has conserved 5 critical protected landscapes.Thousands of local farmers have been paid to plant trees, restore wetlands, and practice agroforestry, effectively treating trees as cash crops,”she stressed.
“We have benefitted a lot: I have cows, I have pigs down here, we have bees and we drink milk and honey. I am so happy that we have made 20 years of TGB, it has really been a long journey,”Wilson Turyahikayo,Trees for Global Benefits, Farmer
Future Plans
Natontong says ECOTRUST has an ambitious five-year strategic roadmap aimed at enhancing the livelihoods, adaptive capacity, and climate mitigation potential of 16.5 million people across 33 districts of Uganda.
The organization has committed to supporting the smallholder-led reforestation and improved management of at least 60,000 hectares of degraded land over the next five years.
To ensure equitable ecological recovery, this target will be divided equally across four distinct geographical zones, with 15,000 hectares designated for restoration each in the Northern Region, the Lake Victoria Basin, the South Kigezi Sub-region, and the Eastern Region.
“Our strategy for the next five years is not just about growing our acreage; it is about scaling proven human-centric impact,” says Pauline Nantongo,
“By taking this model into the Northern Region, Lake Victoria Basin, South Kigezi, and deeper into the Eastern Region, we are proving that local communities are not passive victims of climate change, they are the primary entrepreneurs of our green future. We are ready to scale this impact because we know that when you value the steward, you save the landscape,” adds Nantongo.
