About the Book
The TreePassport Book chronicles the journey from a simple idea that every tree should have a verifiable identity to a global restoration platform used across six countries. It is part case study, part manifesto, and part blueprint for rebuilding the relationship between people, trees, and the land they share.
Written for practitioners, policymakers, funders, and technologists, the book pulls back the curtain on what it takes to coordinate verified restoration at scale: the field protocols, the software architecture, the community partnerships, and the hard-won lessons from planting over a million trees.
The Case Study
TreePassport began as a case study in solving the "phantom tree" problem: how do you prove a tree was planted, survives, and is still growing years later? The answer became a full-stack platform combining mobile field verification, a public geo-registry, satellite monitoring, and economic incentives for the communities doing the planting.
The case study documents the evolution from a WhatsApp-based pilot in Nairobi to a production system with 1.2M+ verified trees, Stripe and M-PESA payments, a live geospatial map, and a digital certificate used across cultures and continents.
Why It Matters
Reforestation funding is growing fast, but without per-tree verification, donors and investors have no way to tell whether a "million-tree campaign" actually grew a million trees. TreePassport flips the model: every tree is tracked from the moment it goes in the ground, creating a continuous, auditable record of survival, growth, and impact.
The book makes the case that verified restoration is not just a technical upgrade it is a trust upgrade that unlocks better funding, fairer outcomes for local communities, and a new standard for what "planting a tree" really means.
Coming Soon
The TreePassport Book is currently being written. Sign up for updates or get in touch if you would like to contribute.