The activities of the Agroforestry Project began in 1974 with an agroforestry development initiative for Guatemala. Over a 25-year implementation period, the initiative attempted to propitiate community forestry development as an alternative for appropriate management of basic resources such as soil, water and forests. In 1988 the success of the project brought international attention when the World Resources Institute (WRI) recommended that the firm Applied Energy Services (AES) finance the PNO3 Agroforestry Project in order to compensate for the emissions from AES's new energy plant fueled by the burning of Carbon . In 1989 AES signed an Agreement Memorandum with CARE, stating that they (AES) would give CARE an endowment of $2 million for a period of 10 years. CARE would use the interest earned on the capital for implementing a series of activities oriented toward land use that would compensate for the Carbon emissions. CARE@Guatemala / Mi Bosque
Upon finalizing the first phase of the project, a second phase, entitled Integrated Forest Management Project (IFM), is being proposed. The proposed IFM project constitutes a continuation of the agroforestry activities based on the lessons learned and the recommendations from programmatic as well as WRI and Winrock International evaluations. This information is incorporated into a framework of institutional planning that assures effective and long- term results along with social benefits.
The objectives of the IFM project are the following: 1) reduce the level of poverty of 29,162 families from 271 communities in 23 Municipalities from 5 Departments through increases in forestry and agricultural productivity on 121,000 ha of land through implementing activities related to the use and appropriate management of soil and forests and; 2) promote the technologies of sustainable use of soil and forests that contribute to the improvement of air quality through the long term offset of Carbon in the produced and/or protected biomass that results from project activities.
As stated above, the IFM Project interventions will be geographically focused in 5 Departments of Guatemala and will be implemented in 271 communities from 23 Municipalities. The IFM Project will focus on the upper region as well as the head of the following watersheds identified as being highly vulnerable to degradation of soil and forest resources in the Western Highlands of Guatemala:--the Cuilco, Chixoy and Motagua Rivers as well as Lake Atitl?n
The IFM project interventions will be geographically focalized in 5 Departments of Guatemala and will be implemented in 271 communities from 23 Municipalities. The principal criteria utilized in the geographic focalization of the IFM project activities are:
q the geographic areas of the Agroforestry and the PROMESA Projects, allowing CARE to build on previous successes; q the interventions of the IFM project will be focalized in the upper region as well as the watershed head of the watersheds identified as being highly vulnerable to the degradation of soil and forest resources in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. These areas include the watersheds of the Cuilco, Chixoy and Motagua Rivers as well as Lake Atitl?n;
q the logistics, cost-effectiveness and efficiency based on lessons learned and; a complementary focus of the interventions that could be coordinated and/or sequenced in order to exploit the reaching of the goals defined between the project and the PROMESA program.
Financial Requirements: The overall cost of the project for a 10-year period is US $2,000,000.
Agroforestry systems managed through natural succession in Bahia, Brazil
(Field Studies)
Description: A comparison was made between agroforestry systems and an area in fallow (Capoeira) to identify vegetational and edaphic effects of an agroforestry system managed through natural succession (SAF) in the Rainforest Region South of Bahia, Brazil. The SAF agroforestry system was tested as a strategy for degraded soil recovery and as a sustainable production system with the potential of replacing present agricultural patterns. The main practices used in SAF implementation and management are: high biodiversity, high density, natural regeneration as part of the system, and selective cutting and pruning. Productive and biodiverse agroforestry systems can repair degraded soil, improving both soil fertility and biodiversity.
Lessons learned: It is very important to consider the structure of local natural ecosystems in designing agroforestry systems, and to choose species adapted to local conditions. Observations on indicator species help in understanding the phases of succession and in determining which associations are better for agroforestry. Plantings must be very biodiverse and dense, and management must respect the order of each species in succession and the ecophysiological necessity of each one. Then, selective cutting and pruning practices can be applied, based on natural processes like pests and disease, or branches broken by the wind, respecting ecosystem stratification and the dominant association. The SAF agroforestry system improved soil fertility by tapping nutrients deep within the soil profile and by increasing the activity of soil biota. The use of natural succession-based management practices makes agroforestry systems dynamic and promotes nutrient cycling, contributing to maintenance of ecosystem health.
Research shows that shaded coffee has the effect of softening the moisture deficits just as forests. Here is the summary of that research.--------------------
Cacao
-Cacao is the chocolate tree. Cacao
beans--which are actually seeds--are used to make cocoa and chocolate.
One hectare produces about 300 pounds of cacao beans annually. They'll
bring about $120 at the market
(from http://www.eduweb.com/agriculture/comag.html)
Cacao is suitable for sgroforestry. For example, the field studies above cropped cacao.Others
The Talamanca Project also shows the potential use of cacao as reforestry crop.
They will use two methods to achieve seed dispersion. "The first involves planting pioneer species in small "islands" surrounding a large central area (diversity island) that is planted with pioneer, secondary, and climax species.(This consists 30%, or 134 hectares, of the project site's total pasture.) The second consists of planting many small islands with a mix of pioneer, secondary and climax species"[Tree 4 Life Project] website - http://www.tree4life.com
-This is an example of reforestation that is already carried out.
g g g
g g g g
g g g g
g g n g
g g g
g g g g
g g g
Legend:
g = Islands with pioneer species only
n = Island with pioneer, secondary
and climax species
Using this method, they say they can achieve the "restoration of native forests on at least 90% of current pasture areas on the Project Site through reforestation (30%), and natural and assisted regeneration (60%)"
In detail, please refer to http://www.tree4life.com/ingles/thank_in.htm
Their way of gathering funding is also interesting. Here is the explanation. (http://www.tree4life.com/ingles/thank_in.htm)
The Tree4life Site was founded in June 2000 to help the Rainforest in Brazil using the the internet. At no cost to themselves, visitors to the Tree4life Site donate free a tree to help the reforestation. The tree donations are paid for by the sites's sponsors. Visitors who click on the donate button are shown a "Thank you For Your Donation" page that confirms their donation and displays the banners of the sponsors who paid for it. The focal point of this page are the sponsor banner ads.