Forest farming initiative mitigates effects of drought on Amazon
An initiative by sustainable development NGO Idesam has helped mitigate the effects of last year’s severe drought for families in the Amazon. Carried out under Brazil’s forest farming standards known as SAF, the project is put into practice by communities in the Uatumã reserve, in Amazonas state, in North Brazil, and also brings new sources of income for locals.
This year alone, after the start of the rains in the region, communities living in the reserve planted 6 thousand seedlings of 19 native species in March. Under the technical supervision of Idesam, efforts aim to combat the climate crisis and offset carbon emissions.
“We plant forest species—large timber species that have the greatest potential for carbon sequestration—as well as fruit species such as cacao, graviola, and cupuaçu, not to mention palm trees, like açaí and pupunha. In this system, families get an extremely productive area in the long term,” said Isys Nathyally de Lima Silva, a forestry engineer at Idesam.
Combining a wide range of species, the forest farming model was implemented as a project in 2010, long before last year’s drought. The diversity of plant types helped the communities maintain production for survival during the period. “During a drought spell, it helps ensure food security for families. Despite the impact on the trees—because the drought was so strong—it still made a difference. We hear people saying ‘it’s a good thing the plan was brought here,’” she reported.
Silva pointed out that the families of Uatumã make their living from fishing, extractivism, and farming. However, due to the characteristics of the Amazon soil, one plot of land can only yield a limited number of crop cycles. After three or four harvests, she said, producers look for new land because the soil is depleted.
Claudirleia dos Santos Gomes, a farmer known as Socorro, confirmed the condition of the soil. “We had a degraded area here, where we worked a lot every year planting and harvesting manioc. You could see how poor the soil was. We started working with the forest farming model and it’s wonderful. Not even grass used to grow here, and today the soil’s been recovered,” she noted.
Income
Socorro and her family used to make their livelihood mainly from watermelon production. Today, in addition to having a more diversified crop, she is able to make an income from growing seedlings for the Idesam project, also contributing to reforestation in the region. “I’m really happy selling seedlings because it’s helped us a lot. It’s improved our situation here a lot, thank God. It also brings work to people making the seedlings,” she said.
Supplied by three plant nurseries in Uatumã, the initiative mobilized 12 communities in just one month. The process had different stages, including soil preparation and enrichment for previously deforested areas, which also suffered the impacts of the great drought of 2023.
The expert also said that last year’s drought was the worst she had ever seen. “It was harsh and sad. The weather really dried up, and we couldn’t get to the nursery. We were terrified of losing the seedlings, because the boat couldn’t get in; the canoe couldn’t get through. Because of the mud, [the boat] gets stuck. To get to the place, I would throw a piece of wood, a board, to step on and carry the [water] pump on my back to water the seedlings,” she recounted.
The model, she went on to say, has been vital for the communities. “I’m becoming more and more aware and working on not cutting down trees, and on taking care of them. If we have trees, we have clean air, and we can prevent these complications [of climate change]. Our work in forest farming has certainly made a big contribution to improving [environmental preservation in the region].”
Carbon sequestration
Under the methodology used by Idesam, each seedling that grows into an adult tree corresponds to 0.3 tons of carbon sequestered from the atmosphere—which has totaled 1,800 tons so far this year. Since 2010, 50 thousand trees have been planted in Uatumã, or 15 thousand tons of carbon sequestered through tree growing across 20 communities. The reserve is home to around 250 families.
“In this climate change landscape, we have really strong warming overall. A major cause of this is the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. By planting trees, we’re sequestering more gases from the atmosphere, increasing compensation and mitigating these effects,” Silva declared. On a warmer planet, she remarked, ecosystems become less resilient.
She also believes that similar actions should be scaled up and incorporated into public policies. “The model has been put to practice in Uatumã, but there are many other areas that need restoration, especially in the big deforestation centers,” she said. “We need government action, and not just in the Amazon. Reforestation is essential if we are to curb the consequences of climate change,” she argued.
