Forestry expert · Nature-tech product lead
Carbon, agroforestry and biochar projects from pre-feasibility to scale — and the digital systems that make them verifiable. I work on both sides, which is why the tools I help build get used in the field and the projects I design survive an audit.
About
I work at the intersection of strategy and implementation — bridging the gap between climate finance in the Global North and field reality in the Global South. 11+ years of building community, scaling nature-tech platforms, and fundraising for restoration impact across mangroves, agroforestry, biochar and beyond.
My career began with a year of hands-on fieldwork at an Indigenous tree nursery in the Philippines, leading directly into managing a 1,200-farmer agroforestry program in Kalimantan with Fairventures. At ETH Zurich's Crowther Lab I co-shaped Restor and scaled its practitioner community from zero to 8,500 users in three years. I co-founded GainForest to build transparent payment systems for verified nature impact — including mangrove and blue carbon projects. Over the years, I've built a deep network across the nature restoration space: investors, funders, policymakers, scientists and field teams across East Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
That's the gap I close for clients: strategy that holds up in boardrooms, implementation that works in the field, and the community, network and fundraising chops to connect the two.
Field experience across 11 countries
Gallery
Services
Scoping a carbon project? Scaling a nature-tech platform? Figuring out what AI can do for your field team? Need funding or the right partners? Pick your lane.
For: Project developers, NGOs and land-use programmes weighing carbon finance.
Carbon finance only works if the project works for the farmers inside it. I take ARR, agroforestry and biochar projects from the first hard question to a credit pathway — designed with the community from the baseline up, and built to survive an audit. And I stay hands-on through implementation: feasibility studies, tree mortality data analysis, field baselines — not just slide decks.
For: Platform teams, nature-tech startups and funders building field-facing tools.
Most climate software is built by teams who never visit the field. I sit in both worlds — and I implement, not just advise: architecture decisions, data pipelines, and the rollout that gets field crews actually using the tool.
For: Conservation and development organisations deciding what to do about AI.
Most AI advice assumes reliable connectivity, clean data and someone technical in the room. I start from where your organisation actually is — and I'll tell you when the answer is "not yet."
For: organisations hunting joint funding, partners — or the right introduction.
The thing clients end up hiring me for: 11+ years of network across restoration, science, tech and finance. I spot where two organisations fit together — and turn that into consortia, joint applications and funded ideas.
Start here
For project developers who need to know whether certification is actually viable — before spending real money on a PDD.
Not included: PDD drafting and certification filing — that's the follow-on engagement, once the go decision is made.
How I work
Portfolio
treeo.one
Origin team · Concept & Prototype
Designed the original tree-monitoring concept with field crews in Kalimantan, won the Google Impact Challenge Germany 2018, and led the start-up inception phase at Fairventures Worldwide before the TREEO spin-out. TREEO has since collected millions of tree pictures and is used by corporate users to track restoration impact.
Visit treeo.one →
restor.eco
Community Engagement Officer · Product
Grew the global restoration practitioner community from 0 to 8,500 in three years. Built the platform with Google as technology partner — connecting developers, scientists and field crews to shape use cases they would actually use.
Visit restor.eco →
maps.gainforest.app
Co-creator, Product & Community
Co-founded GainForest to move money directly to communities for verified nature stewardship. The dMRV system we built handles real payments to a real community — with dozens of projects live and benefiting today. Plus: the 150-person AI & environment conference.
Visit GainForest →Built and led work at:
Testimonials
“Simeon was the link between Restor’s users and the people building its tech and science. He made sure the team designing the platform understood the practitioners who would use it, and carried what he heard from people restoring land back into the product. He drove adoption from zero to 8,500 users worldwide, with thousands of projects uploaded. Very few people can hold both the field reality and the technology in their head at once. Simeon does.”
“Lookfar greatly appreciated the opportunity to work with Simeon to help us build up our AI capabilities in support of our biodiversity conservation mission. Simeon shared his extensive technical and practical knowledge with us in a way that was clear, organized, and actionable — a great way to start our AI journey. We look forward to working with Simeon again in the future.”
“Simeon joined us as we began integrating trees into our organic cereal and poverty reduction programming. He’s deeply attuned to our needs and capacities, integrates seamlessly into our German-Ugandan team, and helps us move climate solution strategies from idea to implementation. He’s honest about what works and what doesn’t, has a sharp sense for where the field is moving, and tells us what we don’t want to hear when we need to hear it. We continue to rely on him.”
Blog
Can carbon finance help pay for a smallholder agroforestry programme — and if so, how?
Read case study →GainForest
Read on LinkedIn →Agroforestry
Read on LinkedIn →