Québec City, QC – There are currently more than two billion hectares of degraded land on the planet, an area equivalent to more than two (2) times the surface of Canada. Land degradation and the desertification of life-supporting forest and agricultural areas is accelerating; the economic loss is currently estimated to be more than ten trillion US dollars per year, as these lands used to produce goods and services of commercial value cease or lower production as a result of degradation.
Viridis Terra, a green technology company based in Québec City, has closed a CA $3.25 million (US $2.5 million) seed funding round, which will be used to further develop its TreesOfLives integrated technology platform created to support its degraded land restoration projects and tackle the climate and ecological crises.
Founded in 2015 and now operating in four countries, Viridis Terra initially focused on the restoration of industrial sites, primarily in the mining sector. The company has developed unique restoration approaches with high-performance biotechnology, enabling the rapid reforestation of new forests, agroforests, and natural ecosystems. The company is dedicated to rehabilitating land damaged by the exploitation of natural resources. Contaminated land, old mines, forestry operations and agricultural land are part of the daily life of ViridisTerra. It helps owners to rehabilitate their property, but also to better manage operations to create less damage in the future.
In the coming months, Viridis Terra will advance the development and commercialization of the TreesOfLives technology platform, used to finance, optimize operations management and facilitate the sale of sustainable, zero-deforestation commodities from forest landscape restoration projects. Through the TreesOfLives impact investment fund launched in February 2021, people already have the opportunity to invest in the company’s restoration and reforestation activities while offsetting their greenhouse gas emissions.
“With TreesOfLives, we can turn a cost of restoration, reforestation, and carbon offsetting into an impact investment that generates sustainable returns at all levels—financial, social, environmental, and economic. The technology platform allows us to scale up activities, a key aspect in the development of the emerging industry of using nature-based solutions for tackling climate change and the degradation of nature.”
Martin Beaudoin-Nadeau, founder of Viridis Terra
The company announced a new board of directors with vast experience in finance, the environment, entrepreneurship, marketing, and numerous other areas the company can draw upon to achieve the goal of large scale forest landscape restoration worldwide.
TreesOfLives is an integrated system that allows investors to monitor the progress of Viridis Terra’s restoration projects, the return on their investment, and the impact of their contribution with respect to carbon, biodiversity, and the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, all in a dedicated secure space. With a database to collect information on field activities, TreesOfLives will provide unprecedented transparency and traceability to all its stakeholders.
“The closure of this funding round is a key step in the commercialization and expansion of Viridis Terra’s international operations and the consolidation of our multidisciplinary team. The capital will be used primarily to build on our expertise by adding experienced IT, marketing and sales professionals to the team, optimizing our operations and continuing to invest in the development of our technologies.”
Martin Beaudoin-Nadeau, founder of Viridis Terra
Viridis Terra announced the formation of its board of directors made up of eight members and CEO Martin Beaudoin-Nadeau to guide the organization in achieving its ambitious objectives. Canadian senator Rosa Galvez will serve as chair. Originally from Peru, Senator Galvez is recognized as one of Canada’s leading experts in pollution control and its effect on the environment and human health. “I’m delighted to be working with Viridis Terra, an organization dedicated to restoring degraded land.
“The team shares my passion for restoring land to its natural state and re-establishing ecological services. I’m looking forward to doing great things together.”
Senator Galvez. Jacques Rajotte, interim executive director of CEIMIA
The other members of the board are Patricia Perez-Coutts, Geneviève Constancis, Pierre Courtemanche, Benoit Leblanc, and Mathio Pellerin. View their profiles here.
Viridis Terra will focus on coping with the increasing number and severity of issues posed by land degradation, the rise of the global population, the need for more sustainable land management practices, and the impacts of climate change, the Global Restoration Initiative was launched by the World Resource Institute to contribute to the Bonn Challenge and The New York Declaration on Forests objectives to restore large areas of degraded and deforested lands across the world into sustainable agricultural, agroforest and forest landscapes.
