Ecosystem restoration

01Overview and value chain

Markers: [EC: UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration + China 三北工程 + US REPLANT Act | OECD: Sustainable land use, Circular bioeconomy | Regulator: EPA (USA), USDA-APHIS (USA), MOA (China)]

Ecosystem restoration rebuilds degraded land — reforesting burnt and arid landscapes, restoring grasslands, deserts, wetlands and mine sites, and locking carbon in restored biomass and soils. Roughly two billion hectares of land are degraded globally, and wildfire is accelerating loss: the US loses ~70,000 wildfires a year (70M acres over the last decade) and Canada burned a record 18.5 million hectares in 2023. The industry now blends drone-based aerial seeding, native-seed seed banks, irrigation-free Cocoon planting and biomass-burial carbon removal, funded by carbon credits, corporate ESG budgets and public programs like China’s 三北 (Three-North) shelterbelt and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

The key directions of ecosystem restoration are:

1. Post-fire reforestation & biomass burial (Post-Fire Reforestation): drone- and hand-planting burn zones plus biomass-burial CDR — Mast’s MT1 Montana vault sequestered 4,500+ t of fire-killed trees into 4,277 Puro.earth credits.
2. Native-seed & arid-land reforestation (Native-Seed Reforestation): modular seed banks and Cocoon planting in harsh soils — Terraformation’s seed banks store up to 5M seeds; Land Life’s Cocoon is irrigation-free for the first year.
3. Drone-based restoration & monitoring (Drone Restoration): aerial seeding + AI/MRV — Dendra seeds up to 44 ha/day; Flash Forest’s pods plant ~50,000 trees/day with its Forestry Intelligence Service census-level monitoring.
4. Grassland / desert / mine restoration (Grassland & Mine Restoration): state-led ecological engineering — Mengcao’s 5M-mu 三北 footprint and 776 grass-seed patents anchor China’s grassland/desert work.

Sectoral value chain

[site assessment] ──> [seed & nursery] ──> [site prep] ──> [planting / deployment]
                              │
                  (drone / hand / Cocoon / marine ranch)
                              │
                              ▼
[carbon credits] <─── [monitoring & MRV] <─────┘

Value chain levels

Cross-cutting technologies of the sector:

• Drone aerial seeding + AI (Drone Aerial Seeding): fleets firing pre-germinated seed pods at >20 seeds/sec with AI-mapped flight lines.
• Biomass-burial CDR (BiCRS): clay-lined vaults bury dead trees, monitored for >100 years and issued as durable Puro.earth credits.
• Irrigation-free Cocoon (Cocoon Planting): a 25 L donut reservoir wicks water to roots for 6–8 weeks, shielding seedlings for a year without irrigation.

02US

The US leads wildfire-recovery reforestation and biomass-burial carbon removal, funded by carbon credits at no cost to landowners.

wildfire-recovery + biomass-burial CDR, native-seed seed-bank scale, carbon-credit-funded reforestation

• Mast Reforestation (Seattle, formerly DroneSeed): pivoted from drone seeding to biomass burial (BiCRS) after high seedling mortality; acquired Silvaseed and Cal Forest Nurseries to run an end-to-end pipeline; its MT1 Montana vault buried 4,500+ t of fire-killed trees and issued 4,277 Puro.earth credits (BeZero “A”, 80% sold to RBC/CNaught/Muir), on $25M Series B (Feb 2025, Social Capital + Pulse Fund) plus a further $25M in 2026; a 150,000 t/yr biomass pipeline is planned.
• Terraformation (Hawaii, founded 2020): native-species reforestation at scale — modular seed banks storing up to 5M seeds, flat-pack nurseries (~20,000 trees/yr) and solar desalination (30,000 gal/day); its Ōhi’a Lani site established 10,000+ native plants in 9 months, and it partners on one of the world’s largest mangrove restorations (Keta Lagoon, Ghana, 3.2M mangroves) and a 14,000-ha Cameroon project.

03CN

China drives restoration through state programs — the 三北 (Three-North) shelterbelt, mine-site and wetland works — with Mengcao healthy on grass-seed tech while CECEP-controlled Tiehan struggles under debt.

三北工程 grassland/desert anchor, state-CECEP ecological engineering, policy-driven + balance-sheet stress

• Mengcao Ecology (蒙草生态, SZSE:300355): China’s only listed pure-play grass-seed-tech company; 2025 revenue ¥2.61 bn (+21.4%) on 三北 grassland/desert/mine restoration, holding 295 native plant species, 105 proprietary varieties and a 776-patent grass-seed cluster; ¥1.532 bn of new H1 2025 contracts, with the Feb-2026 中央一号文件 reinforcing its policy tailwind.
• Tiehan Ecology (节能铁汉/CECEP, SZSE:300197): a Shenzhen-based ecological-engineering contractor (founded 2001, now CECEP-controlled) spanning ecological landscape (70.7%) and ecological-protection (25%) works — but distressed, with 2025 revenue ¥900M (-13.92%) and a -¥2.075 bn net loss (¥782M impairment), credit rating cut to AA- and ¥2.8 bn of bonds under pressure.

04EU

Europe pairs AI-driven drone-restoration platforms with irrigation-free Cocoon reforestation, serving mining, oil & gas and corporate-ESG buyers.

drone + AI restoration platforms, Cocoon irrigation-free arid reforestation, mining-rehab + corporate SaaS

• Dendra Systems (Oxford, UK, founded 2014 as BioCarbon Engineering): its RestorationOS™ platform + drone fleets seed up to 44 ha/day (a 10× rise in a decade) for mining, infrastructure and mangrove clients — supporting the UAE’s 100M-mangroves-by-2030 goal by analysing 20,000 ha; $29.48M total funding ($15.76M Series B), investors include Airbus Ventures and Aramco Ventures.
• Land Life Company (Netherlands, founded 2013): its patented Cocoon (US103083291B2) is a biodegradable 25 L reservoir that wicks water to a seedling for 6–8 weeks, making reforestation irrigation-free for the first year; 3M+ trees planted across 25 countries with corporate-ESG buyers, tracked via satellite + drone MRV.

05Leading companies and research institutes

06Tech stack and innovations

The stack rests on three platforms: drone-based aerial seeding + AI MRV, native-seed/Cocoon arid reforestation, and biomass-burial CDR.

1. Drone aerial seeding + AI MRV (Drone Aerial Seeding):
   • fleets of UAVs fire pre-germinated seed pods (seed + water + nutrients + fungi) into AI-mapped microsites, then LiDAR/multispectral monitoring tracks survival at census level.
   • case: Dendra’s 44 ha/day and Flash Forest’s ~50,000 pods/day + Forestry Intelligence Service (census-level stem ID by species/height).
2. Native-seed & Cocoon irrigation-free planting (Cocoon Planting):
   • modular seed banks and biodegradable Cocoon reservoirs enable native-species reforestation in arid, harsh soils without irrigation in the first year.
   • case: Terraformation’s 5M-seed banks and Land Life’s patented Cocoon (95% seedling protection, 25 L reservoir, 6–8 week wick irrigation).
3. Biomass-burial CDR (BiCRS):
   • fire-killed or waste trees are buried in clay-lined, sensor-monitored vaults that prevent decay and issue durable removal credits under Puro.earth methodology.
   • case: Mast’s MT1 Montana vault (4,500+ t biomass, 4,277 credits, BeZero “A”), targeting a 150,000 t/yr biomass pipeline.

07Value chains and production pipelines

Industrial pipeline of an ecosystem-restoration operation (UN Decade / Verra VM0047)

┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 1. Site assessment        │ ───> │ 2. Seed & nursery         │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
                                                  │
                                                  ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 4. Planting / deployment  │ <─── │ 3. Site preparation       │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘
              │
              ▼
┌───────────────────────────┐      ┌───────────────────────────┐
│ 5. Monitoring & MRV       │ ───> │ 6. Carbon credit & care   │
└───────────────────────────┘      └───────────────────────────┘

Stage 1: Site assessment & planning

Remote sensing and AI mapping (Flash Forest’s climate/topography models) select restoration sites — focusing on 1–2-year-old burns where competing vegetation hasn’t yet crowded out new seeds.

Stage 2: Seed collection & nursery

Native seed is banked (Terraformation’s 5M-seed modular banks; Mengcao’s 105 proprietary grass varieties) or raised in flat-pack nurseries (~20,000 trees/yr) and seed pods.

Stage 3: Site preparation

Land is cleared and microsites prepared; for biomass burial, clay-lined vaults are excavated and capped with geo-textile + gravel (Mast MT1).

Stage 4: Planting / deployment

Drone fleets fire seed pods (Dendra, Flash Forest) or hand/Cocoon planting establishes seedlings (Land Life, Terraformation); Mengcao deploys 1,300+ smart machines across grasslands and deserts.

Stage 5: Monitoring & MRV

LiDAR + multispectral + satellite tracking verifies survival at census level — Flash Forest’s FIS identifies individual stems by species/height; Mast’s vaults run continuous CO₂/methane monitoring.

Stage 6: Carbon credit & stewardship

Verified removal/afforestation credits are issued (Puro.earth for Mast’s BiCRS; Verra VM0047 for afforestation) and sold to corporate buyers (RBC, CNaught, Muir) — funding further restoration at no cost to landowners, with long-term stewardship of the restored stand.