Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV): Tracking the Real Impact of Restoration

At Global Forest Generation, we’re just as focused on learning and accountability as we are about ecosystem restoration. The nature of the work we do is inherently scientific; we’re planting the right trees in the right places with the help of our Acción Andina partners and local community leaders. If the execution is based on science, understanding the results of our work must also be. That’s why we’re introducing a Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) framework to help us track results, share progress, and ensure transparency around Acción Andina’s outcomes – because our success depends on both community-led action and data-driven learning. We’ve already begun sharing some of these results with you through our Impact Map (formerly known as Restoration Scope), but we’re continuing to grow our impact by taking the first steps in building a unified MRV strategy for Acción Andina. We’re looking to measure what truly matters — people, forests, and water. 

But first let’s break it down to understand what MRV is and how it pertains to our work: 

• Measurement: Collecting accurate data on what’s happening in the field.
• Reporting: Sharing this data clearly with partners, donors, and communities.
• Verification: Ensuring that what’s reported is valid and trustworthy, through audits or local validation.

Measurement helps us see what’s working, reporting helps us share it, and verification helps us trust it. Some key indicators we currently  measure include the number of trees planted, restored hectares, and number of involved partner organizations . In the future, we plan to expand into water and carbon monitoring as well as social metrics, like number of communities or number of women participating/involved in restoration projects. Complementary indicators like these show us how restoration strengthens both forests and the communities who sustain them.

When we talk about creating an MRV strategy for Acción Andina, it means designing a rigorous and transparent system tailored to one of the world’s largest community-led restoration movements. With partners and local leaders across the Andes, a unified MRV system ensures that progress, from forest restoration to community engagement, can be measured, compared, and trusted. It helps us adapt to local challenges like drought or shifting planting seasons, while providing credible data for funders, governments, and communities who want to see real results. Ultimately, this system will strengthen Acción Andina’s capacity to plan strategically, secure future financing, and demonstrate how locally-led restoration delivers measurable impact at a continental scale.

So, how are we building it? Together with ECOAN, we’re using a Salesforce-based impact management platform to improve data reporting and track restoration progress across all Acción Andina sites. We also launched the Water Impact Monitoring Framework, funded by The Coca-Cola Foundation, to measure how restoration affects water and to strengthen local partners’ ability to collect and share data. Its pilot phase with partners FONAG in Ecuador, Faunagua in Bolivia, and ECOAN in Peru is helping us design a simple, locally led tool for water monitoring. You may have already seen our new interactive Impact Map on Restoration Scope, where we’ve brought restoration data to life, sharing results on hectares restored, nurseries, and other partner activities. Our focus now is on collaborating with partners and centering training and capacity building to ensure that communities and local teams lead the data collection, and that results are reported regularly. 

More than measurement, MRV is a way to communicate how our work transforms lives and landscapes, and to tell the complete story of restoration and impact. While we’ve made tremendous progress, we still face capacity gaps and data limitations, and our MRV work aims to close those gaps. For us, it’s all about transparency and building pathways for impact. We’re laying the groundwork for a system that will help our partners and communities see and shape the full impact of their work. This is only the first chapter in a long-term endeavor that will strengthen our ability to heal the Andes, together.