Introduction
Land conservation is one of the most critical efforts undertaken by environmental changemakers in our world today. Efforts to conserve land help pave the way for habitat restoration, indigenous community support, wildlife protection, and so much more. However, doing so on a large scale is more difficult than one may imagine. Even though Latin America is home to 50% of the world’s biodiversity, there is increasing deforestation and misuse of natural land practices in this area.
Initiative 20×20 is the world’s leading land conservation effort under the World Resources Institute, working specifically in Latin America and the Caribbean. Their goal is to procure 50 million hectares, of the 300 million degraded, of farm, forest, and pasture landscapes land to restore by 2030. The initiative also looks to address the statistic showing that 58% of Latin America’s carbon emissions come from land misuse. Forest restoration would create a carbon sink, as it increases terrestrial carbon dioxide absorption, which is why this initiative is crucial for decarbonizing Latin America.
Figure 1: Initiative 20×20’s Map of Goals.
Initiative 20×20 was formed at COP 20 (the 20th Conference of the Parties of UNFCCC, or the United Nations Climate Change Conference) in Lima, Peru, in 2014. These six key work areas were established: reforestation, sustainable low-carbon agriculture, avoided degradation and deforestation, sustainable management of grasslands, agroforestry, and silvopasture. These practices collectively support the goal of conserving land and
decarbonizing Latin America.
Through their work, Initiative 20×20 has already acquired 18 countries and three regional programs committed to helping protect 52 million hectares. They have also helped initiate over 100 projects involving tree planting, sustainable agriculture, and more that will collectively build up to achieve this larger goal. These projects have
simultaneously helped create countless jobs in the agricultural and natural resource sectors. All in all, 20×20’s success serves as an example for similar environmental movements worldwide.
Challenge
This initiative’s biggest challenge is the damage already done; more than 40% of forests in Latin America have been deforested or degraded. Reforestation and repairs to the damaged land can be made, but these efforts come with their own set of challenges. Replanting forests takes time as well as financial and human capital. Successful repair also requires thorough planning to ensure that newly planted trees grow successfully. In some cases, quantity is prioritized so much that the quality of growth is compromised, so conducting research and sticking to a well-thought-out plan is crucial for success. Most, if not all, of Initiative 20×20’s projects, have planned to monitor progress in three, ten, and 20 years to ensure proper tree growth.
Context
One of the biggest reasons for deforestation in Latin America is their expanding agriculture practices. Latin America’s expanding agriculture sector is great for providing jobs and national gross income, as these regions provide 16% of the world’s total food and agriculture exports. This statistic is expected to grow as these regions hold continually unexploited lands. As the global population continues to rise and climate change continues to have detrimental impacts on food supply, especially in these regions, it will be critical to create efficient and sustainable agriculture methods.
Figure 2: Agricultural Exports in Latin America
Coffee is one of the largest agricultural exports in Latin America, most of it coming from Brazil, where they produce around 50-million 60-kg bags of coffee annually. This production level means that Brazil is currently producing around one-third of the global coffee trade. Other major agricultural exports coming from Latin America include bananas, heart of palm, palm oil, beef, and soybeans. It is essential that as Latin America’s agriculture continues to grow, farmers can improve their practices and manage their environment sustainably.
Solutions
There are many ways in which WRI’s Initiative 20×20 can help restore Latin American regions from deforestation and degradation and sustainably prepare these countries for further agriculture export growth. WRI’s solutions, once fully established, will help Latin American natives restore biodiversity, forest coverage, and other landscapes and set up its citizens for sustainable agricultural success.
To promote reforestation successes, each Latin American country has different projects to address each nations’ climate-specific issues. Some projects work with plantations like Cacao Oro in Nicaragua to promote agroforestry, the intentional integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems, providing shade to crops, increasing water retention, and replenishing forest cover. Other projects like one in Bolivia are restoring distinctive vegetation types, such as ferns or weedy grasses, to help combat degradation.
Silvopasture is another sustainable farming technique that combines restoration with cattle grazing operations in the same location. Some of the sustainable agricultural practices that make silvopasture so effective include rotational grazing, which leads to the even distribution and increased quantity of planted product, as well as pasture renovation, soil amendment, and canopy management. These efforts, among others, lead to many significant results, such as a cooler environment for the livestock, protection from average weather, and improved plant nutrient uptake. These techniques make for an effective strategy in increasing and diversifying income streams for those who manage these pieces of land.
Another aspect of restoration relates to animal and insect biodiversity and preservation, most importantly bee conservation. One of Initiative 20×20’s projects in Ecuador focuses on conserving native bee habitats, which are vital for continued biodiversity and agriculture success. With the perpetual help from communities and organizations like WRI, beehives thrive, and these active pollinators can continue to help produce nourishing food for local communities and the world.
Debatably, one of the most critical solutions to Latin America’s deforestation and land degradation is a program called Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) implemented in Colombia. Farmers traditionally tend to clear trees and vegetation to make room for their agriculture systems in these areas. The locals may not realize that these practices put their water supply at risk and further the damage being done to their land. PES incentivizes these farmers to conserve the forests in these regions while also providing sustainable farming training to preserve the safety of their water, the local forests, and continual crop growth. If PES continues to find success in Colombia, integrating the program into other regions in Latin America could be very effective in managing deforested and degraded land on a larger scale.
Summary
The impacts of deforestation and land degradation are something the world is just beginning to see the impacts of now and will begin to see more of in the future if a change is not made. 350 million hectares of deforested land in Latin America is an incomprehensible number to most. When there is a difficult task at hand, it is overwhelming to look at the big picture, which is why Initiative 20×20’s goal of repairing 50 million hectares of land by 2030 is so important. As a planet, we need to focus on one small goal at a time in order to stay focused and productive. If this initiative over the next decade or so can achieve their goal, lessons can be learned along the way to continue their efforts well into 2040, 2050, and so on and inspire others around the world.
So the question is, how can programs like WRI’s Initiative 20×20 continue to improve and receive support? Well, the organization accepts government-led and private funding for their projects and as of now has over 85 organizations and institutions already investing via private investment, accumulating $3.9 billion in funds to date. To continue their transformational work in Latin America, getting the word out about their work and supporting them on their journey is the next best way to help them with their important work.
Although the task of reparation sounds daunting, it is important to stay positive in climate change efforts. It is through inspiring efforts and programs like Initiative 20×20 that we can not only maintain hope, but also transform our Earth into a more beautiful, biodiverse, and abundant planet.
To learn more about WRI’s 20×20 initiative, please visit the…
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