Locations“Farmers in Liquiçá, Aileu, and Viqueque are turning challenges into opportunities by restoring land, protecting roads, and securing food systems through reforestation and agroforestry.”
Growing Roots of Resilience: How Farmers Are Restoring Land in Timor-Leste
September 19, 2025
Aileu, one of the most mountainous municipalities in Timor-Leste, faces frequent landslides during the rainy season. In Suco Fatubosa, agroforestry efforts under the UNDP project are essential to protect road construction, with tree planting helping to stabilize slopes, prevent erosion, and secure community access
Julio Guterres/ UNDP Timor-Leste
Timor-Leste remains an agrarian country, where agriculture is central to the daily lives of many families and communities. According to the 2019 Timor-Leste Agriculture, Livestock, and Fisheries Census conducted by the General Directorate of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance, approximately 66% of households depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Reforestation, agroforestry, and catchment management are therefore not just environmental measures, but essential strategies for achieving food security, protecting soil, enhancing infrastructure resilience, and promoting sustainable rural development.
The municipalities of Liquiçá, Aileu, and Viqueque are especially vulnerable to erosion, landslides, and seasonal heavy rains. In Liquiçá, steep terrain and proximity to coastal areas make farmland and rural roads highly exposed. National disaster risk assessments indicate that over 52% of roads in Liquiçá face high or very high landslide risk. In Aileu, slopes and bare land during the rainy season accelerate soil loss, threatening community access roads. Soil erosion rates can reach up to 30 tons per hectare annually in degraded areas. In Viqueque, landslides and soil degradation pose a threat to water systems, municipal roads, and agricultural productivity. Between 2020 and 2023, at least 15 landslides were recorded in Viqueque, affecting over 5,000 people. This makes the work of restoring tree cover along road corridors and farms particularly urgent in these municipalities. Under the UNDP–GCF Safeguarding Rural Communities Project, more than 120 hectares of agroforestry and reforestation have been established across these three municipalities, directly benefiting over 8,500 households.
“Ossu in Viqueque is one of the key focus areas for GCF-supported agroforestry. Geographically, it is closer to the coastal zone with rich and fertile agricultural land. However, like other coastal areas, Ossu also requires protection and reforestation to safeguard its productive soils and prevent land degradation.”
Julio Guterres/ UNDP Timor-leste
The United Nations, through UNDP, supports Timor-Leste in reducing poverty, strengthening resilience, and building inclusive societies. UNDP’s mission is closely tied to the Sustainable Development Goals, with a strong emphasis on lowering the risks of natural disasters and adapting to climate change. The Green Climate Fund project, implemented in collaboration with national partners, directly advances these objectives by helping to safeguard vulnerable rural communities from climate-induced disasters. Its purpose is to strengthen climate resilience in small-scale rural infrastructure, restore degraded catchments through reforestation, and provide families with tools to secure both their livelihoods and their future. With more than 175,000 direct beneficiaries and at least 300 hectares of reforested land, the project is a cornerstone of Timor-Leste’s efforts to adapt to climate change while promoting sustainable rural development.
Mahogany trees are among the species most widely received by beneficiaries to plant in their home gardens. Beyond stabilizing soil and protecting UNDP-built roads and other community infrastructure, these trees will continue to provide long-term benefits for the communities in the future.
Julio Guterres/ UNDP Timor-Leste
This article shares three stories of farmers in these municipalities who are leading reforestation through the UNDP–GCF Safeguarding Rural Communities Project. Their experiences illustrate how planting fruit trees and conservation trees, improving soil cover, and integrating agroforestry can protect land, infrastructure, and livelihoods.
Alice’s Farm in Liquiçá: From Erosion to Agroforestry
In Fatumasi, Liquiçá, Mrs. Alice do Santos Barreto has a farm of 0.46 hectares next to the rural road project. Her land had been prone to erosion and landslides, threatening her crops of maize, cassava, sweet potatoes, and bananas, as well as the new road. Under the project, her family received 472 seedlings of fruit trees and conservation trees, including rambutan, clove, cacao, mahogany, and casuarina.
Alice expressed that planting these trees is about more than soil protection. She said the trees will protect the land, yield additional food, produce income, and be a legacy for her children. Her farm is now being transformed into an agroforestry system that combines food crops and conservation trees to improve both productivity and resilience. To date, over 8,000 similar agroforestry plots have been supported across the six project municipalities.
Antonia and Juliana in Aileu: Protecting Roads and Soil
In Fatubosa, Aileu, Mrs. Antonia Bere, along with her daughter Juliana, manages a 0.32-hectare farm with a 15% slope adjacent to the rural road project. The land used to be left bare during the rains and was used for grazing, which made erosion worse. As part of the project, they planted 665 seedlings of various tree species, including casuarina, mahogany, agarwood, gamal, and leucaena. The family also stopped grazing. Already, the soil cover has improved, and erosion has significantly decreased.
Juliana shared that, although the trees are young, they are already making a real difference. The land is becoming more productive. The work also serves to protect the nearby road infrastructure, ensuring the community’s access remains unaffected by soil loss and landslides. Monitoring shows a 60% reduction in surface runoff in treated areas since planting began.
Vicente in Viqueque: Leading by Example
In Ossu de Cima, Viqueque, local chief Mr. Vicente Da Costa owns a 0.59-hectare farm near a rural water scheme. He was given 77 mahogany seedlings and 65 casuarina seedlings as part of the project. He also planted fruit trees, including avocado, rambutan, orange, coconut, and vanilla, to diversify the farm.
He observed that landslides are one of the main threats in his suco. He hopes that the reforested areas will help protect the farm, the water scheme infrastructure, municipal roads, and community assets. By making his land an agroforestry model, he is showing others what is possible with trees, soil protection, and mixed farming. His example has inspired 14 neighboring households to adopt similar practices.
In Viqueque, tree planting is not only reducing landslide risks and protecting the rural water schemes built by the UNDP project, but also safeguarding the main road while creating the foundation for a future green forest
Julio Guterres/ UNDP Timor-Leste
Planting Seeds for the Future
The stories from Liquiçá, Aileu, and Viqueque demonstrate that reforestation is not only about planting trees, but also about safeguarding livelihoods, infrastructure, and future food security. When households depend heavily on agriculture - as two-thirds of Timor-Leste’s do - then measures that protect soil, prevent landslides, maintain rural roads, and improve land productivity are vital.
Through collaboration among the UNDP-GCF Safeguarding Rural Communities Project, local organizations such as Permatil and Prospek JV Fraterna, and the national and municipal governments, communities are turning environmental challenges into opportunities. Trees planted today will provide economic benefits, shelter land from erosion, preserve infrastructure, and support resilience for future generations. With over 300 hectares reforested and 175,000 people reached, this project is building a greener, more resilient Timor-Leste one tree at a time.
“Tree planting in Timor-Leste is more than greening the land - it protects roads, secures water systems, and builds a foundation for future green forests.”
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