Farm Africa, UNHCR and partners team up on reforestation and clean cooking programme

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is joining forces with Farm Africa, Tree Aid, ICRAF, BB Energy, Hamerkop and Fairventures to implement large-scale clean cooking and reforestation projects in Uganda and Rwanda under the Refugee Environmental Protection Fund.

Across the initial pilot phase, the projects are expected to provide access to clean cooking solutions to more than 50,000 families with the aim to reduce reliance on firewood for household use.

More than 7,000 hectares of degraded land will also be restored through activities such as agroforestry, assisted natural regeneration, and community-based tree planting. The projects are also expected to generate verified voluntary carbon credits from 2027 onward.

Over the longer-term ambition of the platform, the initiative aims to restore more than 100,000 hectares, expand clean cooking access to over one million refugees and host community members, and reduce carbon emissions by up to six million tonnes of CO₂ annually.

The announcement follows UNHCR’s earlier launch of the Refugee Environmental Protection Fund, the first large-scale refugee-led carbon finance platforms designed to mobilise voluntary carbon markets in displacement settings.

Siddhartha Sinha, Head of Innovative Financing, UNHCR, commented:
“This marks a structural shift in how we finance environmental and protection responses in displacement settings. By mobilising high-integrity carbon markets for clean energy and ecosystem restoration, we are demonstrating that refugee-hosting areas can attract private climate capital while delivering measurable protection, livelihood and resilience outcomes.”

The projects will be implemented in Bidibidi and Kyangwali settlements in Uganda and in Kigeme camp in Rwanda, following government engagement and feasibility studies confirming land availability, implementation capacity and carbon certification pathways. The goal is to also jointly scale in other key priority sites within the two countries.

Implementation will be delivered through two consortia with defined site leadership across Uganda and Rwanda.

Farm Africa, Tree Aid and ICRAF will lead activities in Kyangwali settlement in Uganda and will co-lead reforestation activities in Kigeme camp in Rwanda. Drawing on long-standing regional experience in community forestry and landscape restoration, the consortium will implement biodiversity-focused restoration, agroforestry systems and long-term carbon sequestration activities.

The BB Energy consortium will lead activities in Bidibidi settlement in Uganda and will manage the clean cooking component in Kigeme camp in Rwanda. BB Energy’s environmental subsidiary Everpath will oversee carbon asset management and structuring, with Hamerkop providing technical expertise on environmental and carbon design. The focus will be on market-based clean cooking solutions designed to reduce fuelwood dependence and associated emissions while improving household air quality.

In Kigeme, both consortia will work under joint governance, ensuring operational coordination between reforestation activities led by the Farm Africa, Tree Aid and ICRAF consortium and clean cooking activities led by the BB Energy – Hamerkop consortium.

Together, the integrated model is designed to reduce pressure on surrounding woodlands while restoring degraded landscapes, creating green jobs and establishing structured benefit-sharing mechanisms for refugees and host communities.