The project, launched in November 2006, brings together Moldsilva and 265 communities with a total investment of $21.7 million over the period 2006-2035. ( The plan is to halt land degradation by creating permanent forest cover, whilst providing local communities with sustainable and long-term income opportunities. Land abandonment and degradation followed, aggravated over the last twenty years by slash and burn clearing for grazing and small-scale crop cultivation, deforestation of wind-breaks and illegal waste dumping leading to pollution.