Chapter 2: State and Trends
tillage agriculture is in this subregion (Derpsch et al. 2010). According to the same authors, this kind of production has been adapted to a wide variety of environmental conditions, making it a suitable alternative for the diversity of ecosystems in the LAC region. The advantages of no tillage are many: It improves the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil, therefore increasing the production potential; it increases infiltration and reduces soil erosion; It reduces the need for fertilizers and pesticides because of improved soil characteristics and more habitat for pest predators; it reduces costs; by using crop rotations, including leguminous crops, it provides the necessary nutrients for agricultural production (Derpsch et al. 2010).
In many parts of the region agroforestry systems agroforestry systems have been in place for a long time (i.e. coffee and cocoa). For example, shade-coffee production systems provide a permanent ground cover, therefore reducing erosion and evaporation, contribute soil nutrients through tree leaf litter, and provide habitat for a wide variety of wildlife (Gobbi 2000). These kinds of management systems have the potential to improve the environmental quality of agricultural production and of well-being of rural population. Furthermore, they can be adopted in degraded or lands, where they can contribute to improvement of soil conditions as well as human well-being. One example is Jatropha cultivation in Cuba (More…25).
Over the last decade LAC has made progress by reducing the net loss of forested land and increasing forest cover. Upon disaggregation, those increases have been mainly through conservation efforts in the Caribbean sub-region. Brazil has been very successful in reducing the deforestation in the Amazon region (see Amazon deforestation biodiversity section). Given this disparity, there is a continuing need to review the causal factors and identify the concomitant potential policy interventions best suited to promoting progress in forest conservation in the region. One critical intervention, which still requires addressing, is resource extraction from forests and the continued negative impacts on biodiversity, water management and the carbon budget, among others (More…26).
Market mechanisms Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) Schemes
In PES schemes, users of an ecosystem service pay land managers to preserve the ecosystems that supply the service. Preserving forests and other natural ecosystems maintains hydrological conditions as well as provide climate regulation. Costa Rica has successfully implemented PES schemes that combine policy and economic instruments (Porras et al. 2013). Other countries (e.g. Paraguay) have new legislation that includes PES schemes, but they have not yet been implemented or their results are still uncertain (Martin- Ortega et al. 2012).
A specific example of a PES scheme for climate change mitigation is the initiative known as REDD+, the United Nations collaborative
initiative on Reducing Emissions
from Deforestation and forest Degradation. According to UNECLAC (2015a) in 2014 there were 117 REDD+ registered projects in 14 countries of the region (Sanhueza et al. 2014). Five countries (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru) are managing 80 per cent of these projects, indicating that REDD+ as a response is not widespread.
Tropical forest in Panama.
Credit: UNEP/Emilio Mariscal 97
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