Blog posts on smallholder agroforestry, indigenous communities, and tropical timber.
We recently published our forest map, which shows the location of our mixed-species timber and plantain projects. Clicking on any location will open an information bubble with more detail about that site. Our goal is to develop this into a more engaging interactive tour with video and photos, so let us know what you’d like to see.
As part of their Food for 9 Billion series, the PBS Newshour toured Costa Rica to explore how sustainable farming practices are ensuring a sustainable food supply. The video captures the spirit of what we're trying to do: maximize the productivity of our partners' for the long term while preserving and regenerating forest cover.
Local avocado for dinner
A recent article in the NY Times “As Biofuel Demand Grows, So Do Guatemala’s Hunger Pangs” brought attention to rising crop prices in Guatemala caused by increased biofuel production in rural areas. As we read it, there were some parallels to the food security issues in Panama.
One of the reasons we started Planting Empowerment was to address the negative economic and environmental impacts created by industrial teak plantation businesses. Their MO is to buy up land previously used for small scale crop production or cattle grazing, activities that generate calories and support smallholder livelihoods.
Our Equitable Forestry model addresses the issues of displacing food crops and rising food prices in three different ways:
Nine out of the 25 hectares we have under cultivation are planted with plantains, a staple of the Panamanian diet. Growing the plantains between our natives species hardwoods not only helps increase supply of this dietary staple, but also yields cost reductions through the sharing of maintenance expenses.
Our intention from the beginning was to use only portions of partners’ land to locate our forest plots. With our Indigenous Partner community Arimae, the plantings are located on land allocated specifically for reforestation activities in their land management plan. This leaves large amounts of land for individuals to grow staple and cash crops.
Finally, our community forestry partners see increased incomes through land leases payments and profit sharing. This helps to reduce the impact of rising food prices that are hitting Panamanians just as much as the Guatemalans mentioned in the article.
Forest owners and developers need to carefully consider the indirect impacts their projects have on local and international communities. We would like to see more forestry companies intercrop food crops into their projects to help maximize the benefit of their forests and strengthen food security for local communities.
A Nuevo Paraiso girl enjoys some local sugar cane
We enjoyed reading CIFOR director Peter Holmgren’s call for a new focus on sustainable forestry. One of the first things he states is that “Fair, affordable and accessible private finance that promotes sustainable land use, particularly for rural smallholders, is needed.”
Amen.
Driving capital towards sustainable agroforestry projects is something that Planting Empowerment has been working on since we started developing our Equitable Forestry model back in 2006. Using private sector finance for community and smallholder forestry is all too much of a niche. We need more capital at work for programs that facilitate sustainable land use by forest-dependent communities. Where we work in Panama for example, our community forestry partners can receive subsidized financing for cattle ranching, but no financing for agroforestry projects because they are a longer term proposition.
Holmgren also mentions the need to understand the food security dynamic tied to forestry. While many countries are deforesting in the name of food security, there needs to be a better understanding of how forests provide food and increased focus on how agroforestry systems can strengthen food security. Towards that goal, Planting Empowerment is currently scaling the production of plantains in our agroforestry system. Plantains are a food staple in Panama and their price increased substantially over the last two years. We also think there is the opportunity to plant guandules, or pidgeon peas, which is a local favorite and fixes nitrogen into the soil during its growth.
We're glad to see Holmgren drawing attention to these issues, and hope that he continues to highlight them during his tenure. Increased research and resources need to be directed to promoting food security and sustainable forestry, for the sake of both those living in forests and the world at large.
Our polyculture agroforestry plantations with plantains intercropped between rows of treesThe Union of Concerned Scientists recently released a study entitled Wood for Good (PDF), which discusses the most sustainable ways to produce timber and other wood products. This is one part of a series of reports on deforestation that previously identified commercial logging as one of the main drivers of deforestation.
One whole chapter in the report discusses where we as a society should be harvesting wood from. We were encouraged to see that one of their main recommendations is for polyculture systems with native tropical hardwoods. They cite a number of studies noting the environmental and production benefits such as more biomass, habitat, reduced need for fertilizer, and increased yields. Unfortunately, they note that polyculture systems are still rare compared to their distant cousin, the monoculture plantation.
The paper did note that monoculture plantations can be sustainable sources of wood products and pulp, but primary forest should never be cleared to make space for the plantation. Logging to make room for monoculture palm oil plantations is a leading driver of deforestation in Southeast Asia and a source of carbon emissions.
Their recommendations to protect water and reduce soil erosion, reduce chemical inputs, protect biodiversity, protect genetic resources, and plant on degraded land are all practices we implement as part of our Equitable Forestry model.
Finally, they note the importance of making forestry work for the communities living in or near the forests. Without offering communities sustainable alternative income generation activities, the clearing of forests will continue alongside the illegal logging.
Planting Empowerment is a sustainable agroforestry company working with indigenous communities and smallholders in Panama.
