About us

Silva Tree was set up by three environmentally minded entrepreneurs in 2008. Its founders, who originated from long-standing forestry and business backgrounds, wanted to incorporate environmental activities with lucrative business opportunities and so they set up a partnership and started investing their own money into green projects. They were quickly approached by individuals and companies who were interested in joining them, and they saw an opportunity to expand their own activities with the assistance of others. Realizing the importance of sustainable development and projects that help fight climate change, they were keen to set up a safe investment structure that would allow others to join in their projects, benefit from the business side of their activities and help their projects move along more quickly.

The Silva Tree group was set up in 2008 for this purpose in Costa Rica and later in Panama and the UK, and investment structures evolved with the addition of new projects and increasingly sophisticated and diverse investors coming on board. Today, Silva Tree is working on its third project in Panama which is being structured as a Fund, operated by FSA regulated Citadel. In this regard, it has come on a long way from three three individuals who wanted to help the environment and make some money doing so, but its underlying ethic remains the same. The company has grown from three people to a predicted 2000 full and part-time employees by the end of 2010, but Silva Tree’s activities are still based around the fight against climate change, improving the lives of developing communities and sustainable development in ecologically stressed areas.

All of Silva Tree’s projects are designed as Carbon offset projects and are at differing stages of development. They are scientifically developed using CDM (Kyoto protocol) methodologies, with additionality, permanence and socioeconomic tests regularly performed by 3rd party verifiers.

Silva Tree staff and associates

Silva Tree’s carefully selected staff is made up of forestry experts, environmental workers, financial experts and business professionals. Our team is based both on-site in Costa Rica and Panama, as well as across Europe.

We believe in equal opportunities and boast a highly international and multi-cultural team. We provide hundreds of full and part time jobs to local people offering fair conditions and attractive pay.

 

External profiles

Ing. Eduardo Reyes BSc. MSc. MA.

Ing. Reyes has held the position of Deputy Administrator General of ANAM (Vice Minister rank) since 2004. For the last five years, his duties focused on assisting the General Administrator in achieving all the environmental objectives that Panama mandates by law. Eduardo Reyes has been engaged in the UNFCCC process since 2002 and dealt with Climate Change issues since 2000 under CDM, and Adaptation Projects under UNDP. His last two meetings after Poznan COP 14 were the AWG-LCA and AWG-KP talksand SBSTA, SBI, AWG-LCA and AWG-KP both in Bonn from March 29 to April 8, 2009 and from June 1st to June 12th, where he participated in all issues under negotiation that ultimately will shape the content of the post 2012 Agenda that should be reached at Copenhagen next December 2009.

He is the UNFCCC focal point in Panama, the GEF technical point in the country, and the active negotiator under UNFCCC processes. Ing. Reyes was also the Technical Focal Point for The Global Environment Facility (GEF), which deals with Biodiversity, Desertification, and Climate Change issues for the Resource Allocation Fund (RAF) and other GEF funds. He is the appointed head of the National Designated Authority (DNA) whose duties include the education regarding CDM activities and processes, the structuring of projects as possible CDM qualifying projects, and the building of a portfolio of possible CDM projects. His work with CCAD, ANAM, and UNFCCC involved responsibilities as Country Coordinator of the Environmental Energy Partnership (EEP) program under the auspices of the Government of Finland. In this capacity, he was part of the EEP Steering Committee (ESC) that evaluated project proposals from Central American countries. Due to his strong involvement in the EEP, Panama jumped from having one project approved in the period January 2002-August 2004 to having 26 approved, out of 52 presented at the date of writing (2009), the result of being very creative and innovative in all the proposals submitted, and of following at all times the issues concerning transfer of technology as specified in the UNFCCC.

Click to see his Curriculum Vitae

Herminio Rodriguez MSc. CEO of Eco Management Services LLC

A qualified Forestry Engineer, Herminio Rodriguez MSc., is a leading authority on commercial plantation management and specifically the tree species of Teak and Paulownia. Having graduated from the University of forestry and wood technology, Zvolen, Checoslovaquia and the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), Costa Rica, Herminio has worked for the Panamanian National Institute of Renewable Natural Resources and the Panamanian government, as well as providing services for a variety of large-scale private forestry projects.

Herminio has fronted pioneering research on the Tropical species Paulownia Elongata, originally native to China and Japan. He introduced the fast growing species to Panama as a possible solution to national deforestation. Experienced in project development under the Clean Development Mechanism, Herminio is well educated in the matters of climate change and Carbon mitigation.

Herminio was brought up in the Panama, specifically in the district if Chepo, where he experienced first-hand the poverty and lack of development in the area. Familiar with the land, its soils, it’s weather and its potential, he set up Eco Management with a view to help local farmers, land owners and developers to maximize their yields. By employing his native knowledge of the area and his advanced expertise, he has become well-known in Chepo and Darien for improving the productivity and success of forestry and agricultural based businesses. He now employs local people with similar native knowledge of the land, to continue sharing their expertise alongside him. The company has grown into a successful forestry management operation now offering services across Panama and abroad, but specializing in the areas of Darien and Chepo.

Citadel Trustees

Citadel's highly experienced team has been providing trustee and stakeholder services to the leisure and real estate industries for more than 25 years, handling in excess of £65 million/$130 million of client funds annually.

Citadel Trustees Limited, was formed to provide specialized trustee services in a variety of areas such as stakeholder activities, conveyancing services, shared ownership, private residence clubs and probate administration.

Citadel's Head Office is based in Camberley, Surrey, United Kingdom and the company has branch offices, or associated companies in Spain, India, Thailand and China from which it services its international client base.