180 Million Spekboom Planting to Rehabilitate Over 50,000 Hectares of Albany Thicket

The planting of 180 million spekboom shrubs will rehabilitate more than 50,000 hectares — in South African terms, that’s the size of 70,000 rugby fields! — of degraded land in the Albany thicket.

Carbon-free commitment

The project is already underway, with phase one — covering 30 million plants across 10,000 hectares — in progress since April 2024.

The programme is expected to create around 11,000 jobs by 2030, while training local businesses in ecological restoration and injecting more than $500m into surrounding communities through wages, procurement, landowner payments, and community investment.

To ensure the programme succeeds, Amazon has committed to purchasing 1.95 million tonnes of carbon removal credits generated by the project over more than a decade.

This commitment gives investors confidence that there will already be a buyer for the project's future carbon credits, which enabled the World Bank to launch the Spekboom Outcome Bond.

Super spekboom

Unlike many restoration projects that rely on planting trees, this one centres on a native succulent that evolved specifically for the Eastern Cape's harsh climate.

Known locally as elephant bush because elephants browse its leaves, spekboom flourishes where many other plants struggle.

It grows from simple cuttings placed directly into the soil, making restoration practical at an enormous scale.

As the plants mature, they gradually cool the landscape, improve depleted soils, and create conditions for entire ecosystems to recover naturally.

Today, the project area is home to 165 recorded plant and animal species, including several considered vulnerable by conservationists.

Its noteworthy ecological impact has earned international recognition, with the United Nations naming spekboom restoration one of its World Restoration Flagship initiatives.

The project holds an “AA.pre” Standalone Rating from BeZeroCarbon — an independent agency that assesses the quality of carbon credits — making it one of the highest-rated afforestation, reforestation, and revegetation (ARR) projects in the world.