Inspiring businesses to restore farms and forests

The Land Accelerator South Asia is a 16-week program launched in 2020 by WRI India to support entrepreneurs developing sustainable business models for the restoration of forests and farmlands in South Asia. The program provides mentorship, grants, and networking opportunities to help restoration businesses scale their environmental and social impacts.

• India possesses over 100 million hectares of land suitable for landscape restoration and forest protection, with the potential to sequester between 3 and 4.3 giga tons of above-ground carbon by 2040.
• The Land Accelerator South Asia program is a 16-week initiative that provides entrepreneurs with guided mentorship via workshops, webinars, and fireside chats. It offers a €3,000 grant to the top 15 entrepreneurs upon completion and facilitates fundraising through 'Demo Days' where participants pitch to impact investors.
• The program focuses on five key restoration areas: Sustainable Agriculture (including agro-forestry and organic farming), Smart Agri-tech Systems (such as AI-based pest-traps and robotics), Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) Value Chain Development, Organic Land Amendment and Management, and Circular Economy Solutions (converting agro-residues into products like biochar or construction panels).
• Between 2020 and 2021, the Land Accelerator South Asia supported 73 entrepreneurs across two countries and 22 Indian states. As of July 2021, the cumulative impact of the 2020 and 2021 cohorts included the restoration of 970,135 hectares of land, the planting of 8,745,210 trees, the engagement of 1,151,677 small holder farmers, and the creation of 1,771 jobs.
• The global Land Accelerator program, initiated in 2018 with Land Accelerator Africa, has achieved worldwide results including the restoration of 207,000 hectares of land, the planting of approximately 22 million trees, the creation of 13,000 jobs, and support for 1.2 million farmers across 46 countries.

APA

World Resources Institute (n.d.). Inspiring businesses to restore farms and forests. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-03/land-accelerator-south-asia-brochure.pdf

Chicago

World Resources Institute. Inspiring businesses to restore farms and forests. n.d. https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-03/land-accelerator-south-asia-brochure.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Resources Institute |title=Inspiring businesses to restore farms and forests |url=https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-03/land-accelerator-south-asia-brochure.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldresourcesinstitutendinspiring, author = {{World Resources Institute}}, title = {{Inspiring businesses to restore farms and forests}}, institution = {World Resources Institute}, url = {https://files.wri.org/d8/s3fs-public/2022-03/land-accelerator-south-asia-brochure.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }