Our research partnership

forestLAB

forestLAB is ACDG’s research partnership, established to identify new ways to unlock social, environmental and financial value for our conservation-led development programmes

  • New solutions

    translating academic and scientific excellence into real-world impact

  • New techniques

    designed to examine complex developmental questions in a holistic way.

  • New financing mechanisms

    maximising the value of natural capital and avoided carbon emissions

forestLAB

Multidisciplinary Partnerships

In collaboration with our founding partners, London School of Economics, University of Stirling and Gabon’s National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research, forestLAB is helping to foster new solutions, techniques and financing structures to advance conservation-led development in Africa.

forestLAB represents the crystallisation of decades of visionary thinking and pioneering sustainable development practice by ACDG. Its value lies in the ability to convene best-in-class specialist expertise across diverse disciplines to answer complex developmental questions that can be applied in the real world.

forestLAB partners

forestLAB has ten principal areas of focus:

Through forestLAB, we have forged partnerships with the University of Stirling, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment at the London School of Economics, and Gabon’s National Centre for Scientific and Technological Research (CENAREST) focused on ten core areas of research:

The findings that flow from forestLAB’s research are intended to guide our Group’s operating models and practices, catalyse new sustainable ventures on the African continent, and create traction with policymakers and business leaders.

— Baroness Minouche Shafik, Director of LSE
"forestLAB presents a tremendous opportunity for social and natural scientists to work together on a vitally important challenge that will provide lessons for developing countries."
— Baroness Minouche Shafik, Director of LSE

The Congo Basin

forestLAB is focusing its initial research in Gabon, part of the Congo Basin which harbours the second largest expanse of rainforest on earth and represents a critical line of defence in the fight against climate change.

At its first research centre in Loango National Park, forestLAB will build on the work conducted by the University of Stirling, which has monitored African rainforest ecosystems for over 40 years.

Who we are

Landscape

Grande Muyumba

We hold the rights to consolidate and sustainably develop a land area of 731,000 hectares for commercial agriculture...

Grande Mayumba
Grande Muyumba