TIST Values Transparency
Honesty is at the heart of what makes TIST Farmers successful.
TIST Farmers Impact
Community & Planet
TIST Farmers collect seeds, plant trees, maintain groves, monitor results, and receive 70% share from the sale of dual-validated and verified carbon credits.
First Step: Farmers
Form Small Groups
Farmers decide if they want to join TIST to improve their local environment and their farms and then "Go and Do".
Second Step: Establish
a Baseline
Trained TIST Quantifiers record the existing environment of each farm.
Third Step:
Quantification of Results
Trees are counted and tree mass data is quantified, recorded, and made public.
Fourth Step:
Verification & Validation
Third-party auditors verify TIST Farmers’ trees, validate carbon sequestration, and evaluate TIST Farmers’ contribution to improving climate, community, and biodiversity.
Fifth Step: Premium Carbon Credits Issued and Sold
Premium carbon credits are sold on the global voluntary carbon market to help individuals, families, companies, and organizations meet their carbon neutral goals.
Last Step: Sharing of Profits
70% of the profits from the sale of carbon credits is returned to the TIST Farmers as Profit Share.
What the farmers are doing right now:
Highly-effective climate change restoration
Restoring existing degraded land is a highly effective climate change opportunity.
Planting 25+ million trees, alive and counting
Tree planting is one of the simplest and most cost effective means of mitigating climate change, by absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere.
Sequestering carbon and improving lives
TIST's verified results show that the current farmers have received over $140 million in benefits that are additional to the carbon income. That is over $8 of benefits so far for each tree planted and kept alive.
The International Small Group & Tree Planting Program
Creating effective afforestation and improving farmers' income in response to global climate change!
The TIST Program grows by word of mouth
Farmers learn about TIST from other TIST farmers and join Small Groups of 6-12 people that form Clusters of 200-400 local farmers. Clusters coordinate the Small Groups of women and men and provide leadership opportunities that make a difference in their local community.
Participating farmers are motivated
Farmers decide whether, where and how to plant trees, change farming methods, source and own the seeds and keep ownership of the trees and land.
Trees are restoring degraded environments
Trees are typically planted on degraded and/or unused land (e.g. around houses for shade, in small wood lots for firewood, along boundaries as windbreaks, along streams for flood and soil control).
Groves will live a minimum of 30 years
Participants contract to maintain the tree groves for 30 years in return for annual carbon pre-payments per live tree, and a 70% share of the net profits from carbon credit sales. In addition, farmers have achieved over $8 per tree of non-carbon benefits.
Results are quantified and third-party verified
After 5 years of tree growth, tree mass and the volume of carbon stored in the trees can be calculated, the carbon captured is verified to international standards, and carbon credits can be offered for sale.
Carbon credits are created for now and later
Carbon credits can be retired to offset a carbon footprint, or can be retained and used at a later date.
What makes TIST unique?
Subsistence farmers and sustainability experts agree - TIST deserves its awards!
Self-reliance and ownership
Farmers join voluntarily because they value the benefits of participation. They maintain ownership of their improved farms, trees and products.
Environmentally and climate friendly
Large environmental benefits are achieved through improved biodiversity, water quality and soil fertility.
Sustainable and low cost
TIST remains financially sustainable by keeping costs low and focusing on serving farmers.
Successful and award winning
TIST is not a greenfield project. 20 years of success has resulted in over 200,000 farmers in 4 countries who have raised over 25,000,000 trees. TIST's award-winning model is widely acclaimed.
Scalable
The TIST Program is participant-led and highly scalable.
Benefits farmers, communities, and the planet
TIST touches on all 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
Growing trees,
growing leaders!
These Kenyan women were filmed by Ripple Effect Images to show their success in enriching their lives and local communities through the TIST Program.
Videography: Michael Davie
Still Photos: Lynn Johnson
Who supports TIST Farmers' work?
I4EI
The Institute for Environmental Innovation (I4EI) facilitates TIST Small Groups in leadership development, restoration, food security and health activities as well as supporting TIST Farmers in locally-determined action.
Clean Air Action Corporation
Clean Air Action manages operations including monitoring and verification of health and environmental results as well as marketing and sale of carbon credits on behalf of farmers.
People Like You!
You can support TIST Farmers directly by buying carbon credits and offsets, planting trees and groves, donating to the TIST Education Fund or simply giving any amount you want once or as a subscription!
TIST Learning Centre
The TIST Learning Centre is a free educational resource for current and prospective TIST Farmers.
In the TIST Learning Centre, TIST Farmers have access to free trainings on TIST Values, Best Practices, Conservation Farming, Small Groups, Rotating Leadership, Tree Planting, Seed Collection and Storage, Starting and Maintaining a Tree Nursery, TIST Eligibility Requirements and many more topics.
Farmers excited about joining TIST can access the first seven modules on the Join TIST website and - if interested in pursuing further - navigate to the TIST Learning Centre and create a free account to continue further trainings.
Want to become a TIST Farmer?
Join the TIST program for your area and plant trees on your farm and in the community!