More than 90,000 hectares of irreplaceable Grasslands will now be conserved as part of South Africa’s first large-scale, verified soil carbon project. It is one of the world’s first projects applying Verra’s VM0026 Sustainable Grassland Management methodology at this scale.

This important milestone for long-term, sustainable grasslands conservation, is the product of work undertaken by the International Crane Foundation (ICF), in partnership with the Endangered Wildlife Trust (EWT), and is underpinned by a joint commitment to saving crane habitat in the Drakensberg region of South Africa.

The project has received 805,971 Verified Carbon Units (VCUs) from Verra, the world’s leading authority for carbon credit certification.

These VCUs are independently audited and confirmed climate benefits, demonstrating exceptional scientific integrity and accuracy in project design, modelling and implementation.

The project, which started in July 2018, covers land in the Drakensberg range, from Mpumalanga in the north to the Eastern Cape in the south. Most of the land is managed through long-term biodiversity stewardship agreements with private landowners The properties were selected for their ecological importance for Wattled, Blue and Grey Crowned Cranes, their potential for soil carbon sequestration and their landowner’s demonstrated commitment to sustainable grazing and fire management.

Using Verra’s VM0026 Sustainable Grassland Management methodology, the project delivers benefits for climate and biodiversity, significantly enhances agricultural resilience by improving soil health, water infiltration, and forage productivity. These are critical factors for long-term farming stability in a region increasingly affected by drought and climate variability. Restoring grassland back to health helps commodity producers maintain a viable operation while enabling better functioning biodiversity, benefitting pollinators, raptors, cranes and numerous grassland-dependent species.

Carbon projects like this do not replace the need to reduce emissions or efforts to secure a pathway to net zero, but rather complement them. Nature-based (NBS) climate solutions are an essential part of rebuilding the ecosystem and creating resilience in the landscape. Financial support, in the form of ongoing payments to farmers for these carbon credits, which in turn support ongoing sustainable land management, enables farmers to engage in landuse activities that retain and capture, as a key strategy to support adaptation and resilience in the face of a changing climate.

The International Crane Foundation and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, in partnership with WeAct, have already started the second monitoring period, which will run to December 31, 2027. This next phase of creates an opportunity for like-minded conservation-oriented landowners to join the project as partners and expand the conservation footprint by 54,000 ha (130,000 acres), as well as strengthen ecological and agricultural outcomes across the region.

All participants have committed to a minimum of a 40-year contract horison. This commitment provides a sustainable financing mechanism to reinvest carbon revenue into conservation, creating real long-term agricultural resilience and rural livelihood improvement. The EWT, ICF, and WeAct remain committed to supporting participating landowners and enhancing future monitoring, expansion, and verification efforts.