From sand to forest in one year - building agri-supply chain
Drylands
Drylands are tough. Poor soils, droughts, salinity, invasive species, and challenging water resources. On the flip side, by cracking the formula for regenerative agriculture, drylands represent the single largest opportunity for climate mitigation and food security globally. We think our agro-ecology approach and the 100-acre Village Model are the keys to unlocking the potential of these drylands.
Regenerative & salt-tolerant agro-forestry is a place-based combination of regenerative agriculture principles that, together, creates incredible change. By using simple techniques like biochar, appropriate species selection, and smart irrigation, we are able to do the above in 6 months in desert soil with saltwater. No fancy tech, low cost, and accessible to all. In this picture, 5 tree species, 9 vegetable crops, and 4 grass species co-exist in a way that promotes the wider agro-ecology. In this plot alone (1 acre) we harvest 600kg of vegetables alone each week! The high-density of trees (up to 5,000/ha) means that we are producing even more biomass for livestock, and a massive amount of carbon being stored in above and below ground.
Latest news
Official programme launch announcement
In September 2025 NARA officially announced its partnership with Criou Energy and Planboo, two MRV and carbon trading companies, backing the world's first refugee-led project focused on land-use change and building ownership directly into governance of carbon projects. The partnership gives NARA's social enterprise partners the tools and supply-chain support required to sell directly to markets at their own pace, agency, and discretion.
Partnerships
In September 2025 the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's Engagements and Partnerships Committee (EPC) endorsed the proposed engagement with NARA, boosting the programme's partnership network and increasing on-the-ground capacity with local support from FAO's regional team. FAO staff support community engagement, agricultural supply-chain development and technology transfer to the programme's social enterprise partners.
In its policy brief recently published in 2025 (Greening Humanitarian Spaces), FAO highlighted the programme's emphasis on supply-chains and access to markets.
Newest Refugee Social Enterprise launch!
In September 2025 two new refugee-led social enterprises were on-boarded to the programme with each receiving start-up capital and over 50 acres of land to develop through a 25 year right-to-develop governed by a multi-party partnership agreement.