Partnership mentality

Rural Panamanian partners are an essential part of the business.

Our community forestry partners are an integral part of our operationsThe Equitable Forestry model is different from traditional plantation forestry, which involves purchasing large tracts of degraded land from locals. This practice divorces them from the financial benefits produced by the tree plantations. Even worse, it encourages migratory deforestation by displacing farmers from their existing property. 

In essence, the Equitable Forestry model is a partnership. The land-lease contracts we sign with our Panamanian partners connect us for the life of the plantation cycle. We depend on their acceptance and support of our programs to grow as a company. Planting Empowerment shares profits with our partners from any revenue-generating activities on the leased land. Profit sharing is part of our partners’ compensation for leasing us their land, not a philanthropic activity. Additionally, we invest 20% of our profits into our partner communities through school scholarships. This builds skills in the local population and enables more job growth in the region.  

Over the long term we believe that a partnership-focused, “bottom up” approach to profitability is more sustainable.