By Gerelyn Terzo, Global AgInvesting Media

BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group, which specializes in timberland investment management, has reached another milestone on its mission to restore degraded land and support sustainable forestry across Latin America. The firm, whose parent company is BTG Pactual, has received an investment from Temasek-backed GenZero for its Latin American reforestation strategy.

This latest commitment propels the total capital raised for BTG Pactual TIG’s Latin American reforestation strategy to $672 million, inching closer to its ambitious $1 billion target to conserve, restore and reforest around 270,000 hectares of degraded landscapes across the region. Conservation International stepped in as Impact Adviser to ensure advances in environmental, climate and social outcomes.

BTG Pactual TIG stands as a heavyweight in timberland management, overseeing a total of $7.3 billion in assets and commitments across nearly 3 million acres in the U.S. and Latin America. Temasek, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund, is known for its deep stakes in agriculture and sustainable resources, having founded GenZero as a dedicated platform to scale climate-focused investments.

BTG Pactual TIG Chief Sustainability Officer Mark Wishnie said, “GenZero’s commitment is a strong validation of the BTG Pactual TIG Latin American reforestation strategy as a model for how large-scale, science-based restoration can deliver climate, biodiversity, and community benefits. We are thrilled to partner with GenZero to deploy capital at scale to restore ecosystems, create jobs, and generate significant climate impact.”

BTG Pactual Timberland Investment Group’s reforestation strategy targets the revival of biodiversity and climate resilience across Latin America’s critical ecosystems, with Brazil’s Cerrado biome, a vast savanna boasting over 11,000 native plant species and 5 percent of the world’s flora and fauna and much of Brazil’s biodiversity, at its core. With nearly half the Cerrado already lost to degraded pastures and other land uses, the need for sweeping restoration to reclaim those habitats has never been more pressing.

The effort is gaining ground. Restoration is now underway on more than 11,000 hectares of native Cerrado vegetation, setting the stage to connect over 40,000 hectares of seamless wildlife corridors, an area roughly one-third the size of Rio de Janeiro. Early surveys on the strategy’s properties have already cataloged hundreds of species of flora and fauna, underscoring promising strides in ecological recovery.

Once at full deployment, the strategy aims to safeguard and revive 135,000 hectares of native forests and habitats, while establishing millions of trees on another 135,000 hectares of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified commercial plantations.

GenZero Director of Investments Hoon Ling Min commented, “We are proud to partner with BTG Pactual TIG and Conservation International on one of the largest private sector-led restoration strategies in Latin America. By restoring natural ecosystems and enhancing biodiversity, whilst sustainably producing timber and generating high-integrity carbon credits, this initiative supports the transition to a net zero world and builds longterm resilience for local communities.”

GenZero, founded by Temasek in 2022, backs investments that cut emissions at scale and aim to deliver long-term returns. Its strategy is to protect and restore nature while supporting local communities, fund technologies that target emissions cuts, and build the tools that help carbon markets function while speeding up the transition to net zero.

Last year at this time, BTG Pactual’s Timberland Investment Group hit the $500 million mark for its Latin American reforestation strategy, an effort developed with Conservation International to restore roughly 133,000 hectares of native forest while establishing commercial tree farms across a similar-sized footprint, with expected benefits such as habitat restoration, carbon credits and rural jobs.

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