Harvesting for timber Over the last twenty years, approximately 2,000 ha of plantation forests were established by small-scale farmers in the lowlands of Bolivia, of which 1,400 ha by the ArBolivia Programme since 2007. It takes at least eighteen years before the first mature trees can be harvested. In the meantime, several thinnings need to be implemented to reduce the amount of trees per hectare to stimulate the growth of the remaining trees. For small-scale farmers there is no access to the timber market of these small dimensions of the thinning wood. There are no companies providing services to farmers to do the thinnings of their private plantations in the lowlands of Bolivia. The applicant company in this project is The Cochabamba Project Ltd, a social enterprise from the UK, investing in sustainable forestry plantations of smallholders in Bolivia. The local partner is the forestry consultancy company Sicirec Bolivia Ltda. The third partner is a forestry consultancy company from the Netherlands Caoba Consultancy. The three project partners will start a joint venture company to provide the service to farmers to do the thinnings of their private plantations in the lowlands of Bolivia, do the sawing of the small dimensions with mobile saw mills and assist with the marketing of the timber in Bolivia. The nearly 1,100 small-scale plantation owners will benefit by mid-term sales of the thinning wood and better prices as compared to individual sales, making it attractive for other farmers to establish plantations of native species in agroforestry systems in the lowlands of Bolivia. This will reduce the pressure on the tropical native forests and the national parks in the Departments Beni, Cochabamba, La Paz and Santa Cruz.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The activities of the ArBolivia programme are founded on the principles of CSR. The applicant is a social investing company and has a well-developed CSR policy. It deals with the subjects human rights, rights of local communities, labour norms, HRM policy, staff participation, health and safety of employees, environmental protection, combating bribery, chain responsibility and includes an action plan and a communication plan.Local partner Sicirec Bolivia Ltda has no formal CSR policy but conducts its business according to the well-developed CSR policy of the applicant. The third partner has no written policy but is willing to conduct its business also according to the criteria included in the CSR policy of the applicant.Impact•	Employment and working conditionsThe company will pay living wages, arrange housing, transport and food for workers in the forest. There is a lot of attention for training and safety. The employees will have fixed contracts despite the forest activity is only nine months a year.•	Innovation/Transfer of knowledgeThere are no companies providing the service to farmers to do thinnings of their private plantations in the lowlands of Bolivia, do the sawing with mobile saw mills and assist with the marketing of the timber. The innovative aspects lie in processing of wood from plantations, from younger trees (thinnings), making use of trunks with smaller diameters.Also, the logistical process to efficiently (via a management information system) thin and market only small amounts of wood per farmer for hundreds of farmers is very innovative.•	Chain effectsImpact on local customers or consumersThe impact on the suppliers of the wood is very big. They are small-scale farmers and owners of the plantations of native species, established between five and ten years ago. The first harvests cannot be expected the first eighteen years. This project provides them the opportunity to sell the wood derived from the thinnings. Due to the small dimensions and the small amount of wood per farmer they have no opportunity to commercialise the thinning wood. And if they can, they will receive extremely low prices. Through the project the 758 smallholders of the ArBolivia project and the 300 farmers in the Chepare region will have the opportunity to receive additional income through the joint thinnings, sawing and marketing with market conform prices (at least double of the price a farmer can receive). In addition, all farmers will be trained on silvicultural matters, safety and saw mill operation. These farmers can use their plantations as guarantee to obtain small-scale loans from local Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs), which is a unique opportunity.Impact on local customers or consumersAll sawn wood and poles will be sold locally. The impact is positive as the company will provide local timber companies with highly demanded native wood species but from good quality plantation wood. Further, it will provide this timber as sawn wood directly to associations of carpenters and furniture makers in the south of Bolivia, enabling them the access to good quality wood for lower prices.•	Impact on the sectorThe joint venture will cooperate closely with local Universities and thesis students, as well as with local knowledge institutions, among others the Bolivian Institute for Forestry Research. It will promote their experiences with sustainable forestry and plantations as an alternative for shifting cultivation and deforestation. They will promote the further use of the Gold Standard and Plan Vivo for Carbon fixing projects. In future also FSC and Fair Trade CarbonFix Standard will be developed for the sector. Through this example more companies will be interested to invest in plantation forestry.•	EnvironmentThe project stimulates sustainable land use instead of continuing deforestation of the Amazon, slash and burn agriculture or animal husbandry in secondary forests. Sustainable land use through the start of plantations as agroforestry systems. This will result in reduced pressure on the native forests and carbon fixation, monitored by Gold Standard and Plan Vivo certifications. All participating farmers possess land adjacent to national parks in Bolivia.•	Position of womenThe project will employ four women out of which three on medium- and high-level. However, in terms of improving the position of women it will actively stimulate the participation of also women farmers in the trainings. Currently, 20% of the participating farmers are women. In case of the sales of wood both men and women need to sign as the trees are owned by both of them and in order to improve women participation in access to resources.•	Impact on food safetyThe farmers participating in the project will have improved access to better credit facilities as the plantation can be used as a guarantee towards MFIs.•	Impact on waterIndirectly, the project contributes to improved infiltration of rainwater in the plantations and reduces the risks of erosion and flooding. The establishment of a thinning company that harvests timber from sustainably grown plantations of smallholders, using mobile saw mills and commercialises the timber for the smallholders within Bolivia.