Restoring land in Latin America shows big potential for climate mitigation

by CIAT Comunicaciones | Sep 23, 2019

Figure: First inventory of restoration projects across Latin America and the Caribbean shows where the potential lies for climate mitigation and provides a compass towards reaching the Bonn Challenge ambitions through forest restoration

Land restoration in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is picking up pace, but scaling up projects is critical if the region wants to meet its pledges under the Bonn Challenge, which aims to restore 350 million hectares of degraded and deforested land worldwide by 2030. A new study led by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and Wageningen University supplies a first map of restoration projects in Latin America and shows their potential to mitigate climate change through restoring forest cover.

Researchers took stock of the location, goals, and activities of 154 projects in LAC, starting a database to guide practitioners in scaling up restoration. They mapped projects under five initiatives working towards the Bonn Challenge goals – the Initiative 20x20, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), the Forest Investment Program (FIP), and independent local projects – in tandem with mapping the potential biomass increase that forest restoration could achieve across the region’s various ecosystems.

See https://blog.ciat.cgiar.org/restoring-land-in-latin-america-shows-big-potential-for-climate-mitigation/