Beyond the Canopy

What if protecting forests was actually good for business? In this episode, host Alexander sits down with Tim Cronin, Global Lead of WWF's Forests Forward Program, to explore how some of the world's biggest companies — IKEA, SIG, Interulco and others — are turning forest conservation into a core business strategy. From supply chain resilience to regulatory pressure and emerging carbon markets, Tim...

What does it take to protect one of Mexico's most biodiverse landscapes for 40 years? In this episode, Alexander Watson speaks with Marta "Pati" Ruiz Corzo, founder and UN Champion of the Earth, and Laura P. Burke Pérez-Arce, president and carbon finance architect of Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda (GESG), the organization behind the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, the largest socially managed protec...

What happens when a search engine gives up its right to ever profit and puts every euro into restoring the planet instead? In this episode, host Alexander Watson sits down with Christian Kroll, founder and CEO of Ecosia, and Pieter van Midwoud, Ecosia's Tree Planting Officer, just days before the company celebrates a landmark milestone: 250 million trees growing across more than 40 countries. But...

Welcome to Beyond the Canopy — the podcast by OpenForests, where nature takes center stage. In this episode, host Alexander talks with Tim Christophersen, Vice President of Climate Action at Salesforce and former UN Environment Expert, about his groundbreaking book "Generation Restoration: How to Fix Our Relationship with Mother Nature". Tim, a key architect of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restorati...

In this episode , our host Alexander Watson is joined by Andreas Eke, co-founder of The Generation Forest, a pioneer in tropical forestry with over 30 years of experience. Join us as we explore what makes a high-quality reforestation project. Andreas reveals how they've developed a unique model that blends ecological sustainability with economic viability, creating productive, biodiverse, and resi...

In this episode, Alexander Watson (Founder & CEO, OpenForests) sits down with Mathias Perobelli Schmidt, Agroforestry Investment Specialist at Ecosia, to unpack the concept of Circular Funding—a regenerative finance model that recycles returns into tree-planting, agroforestry, and forest conservation rather than paying dividends. We explore outcome-based loans, how biodiversity and social impa...

Welcome to Beyond the Canopy — the podcast by OpenForests, where nature takes center stage. From climate finance to forest technologies, from policies to on-the-ground impact — we bring you bold conversations with those shaping the future of nature restoration and conservation.

In this episode, Alexander Watson (Founder & CEO, OpenForests) sits down with Alejandro Diaz, Landscape Finance Manager at Commoland, to discuss how to unlock substantial fundings for large scale landscape restoration and scape from a project view to a more holistic approach and we'll dive into their 4Returns Funding Approach.

In this episode, Alexander Watson (Founder & CEO, OpenForests) sits down with Michael Rumberg, Managing Director at Volkswagen ClimatePartner, to answer a critical question: What makes a forest carbon project truly high-quality? You’ll discover: 🌳 What defines real impact — from increasing carbon stocks and biodiversity to earning community trust 🚩 How to spot red flags and manage project ri...

We guarantee an informal yet highly interesting talk for your morning, afternoon, or evening coffee (or tea if that's your kind of cup). Breece has a lot of exciting stories to tell! Breece Robertson has more than 20 years of experience leading collaborative and strategic initiatives that leverage geospatial technologies for land, water, equity, and climate issues. She is a master of community-dri...

Paul Burgers, Ph. D. In this episode, Food forests feed and store carbon Paul Burgers the Founder and CEO of CO2 Operate B.V. and Gula Gula , will explain and share his experiences of what it takes to build up and scale a community-driven agro-forest project.  Email: p.burgers@co2operate.nl  Projects: https://explorer.land/x/organization/co2/ Website: https://gulagula.org/ LinkedIn: https://www.li...

About In this Forest Landscape Stories episode, we will learn about the afforestation method developed by Dr. Miyawaki, a Japanese botanist and expert in plant ecology and natural forests. His method results in maintenance-free, wild, and native forests. These forests grow in cities, along roads, around buildings, and in our own gardens. They even grow on very degraded land, under extreme conditio...

Facts about Bamboo There are around 30 million hectares of bamboo in tropical and subtropical areas of the world. It is one of the fastest growing plants on earth. Certain species can grow up to 1-meter a day. Even though some Bamboo species grow very tall like trees, Bamboo belongs to the grass family. Bamboo and Rattan can contribute to livelihoods in many ways; providing food, fiber, and fuel w...

Background of Izabal Agro-Forest Interactive project exploration at explorer.land Izabal Agro-Forest, S.A. (IAF) is an award-winning farm and timberland management company headquartered in Guatemala. in 1989 IAF started establishing its first production forests. They started with rubber and teak. 3 years later in 1992 IAF has increased the number of tree species and also planted and managed threat...