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Project name :

Reforestation in the Chihuahua desert


Country : Mexico
Type : Solidarity planet program


tree nursery for leucaenas 

Fight against human, vegetal and animal desertification


Location:

Region of San Luis Potosi, at the southern tip of the desert of Chihuahua, Mexico.

Type of project:

Ecosolidaire® – Reforestation, fight against desertification and carbon sink

First operational: July 2009


Background:

The desert of Chihuahua is one the richest for its biologic diversity. It stretches over 630,000 km² through several Mexican states, up to the South West of the United States of America. In this region, yet so wealthy, the impoverishment of Mexican farmers obliges them to practice traditional and subsistence agriculture, as they have no access neither to new technologies, nor to more modern and less intensive techniques. In rural areas, children generally go to school until they turn 12, then leave school to work in the fields with their parents. As a result of all this, agricultural lands have significantly degraded and given rise to an emerging desertification, mainly in North Mexico’s semi-arid regions. Moreover, agricultural production has severely declined, along with farmers’ living standard. Many of them do not see any other solution but migrate to the United States (between 1 and 3 million Mexicans have been migrating there every year since 1960). Desertification is thus not only vegetal and animal (erosion of genetic resources), but also human.

Description:

This project is a research program whose aim is to stop if not revert desert progression and to improve agricultural production and ecosystem preservation. The project encompasses several aspects such as production reorganization and training to techniques of planting species of the legume family. It is the result of a partnership lead by researchers from the Colegio of Postgraduados of Salinas in Mexico, in conjunction with EcoAct.

Capacity: 600,000 trees



Project benefits:


Environmental benefits:
  • Fight against global warming by creating and maintaining a carbon sink.
  • Preservation of biodiversity thanks to the plantation of Leucaena Leucocephala, of the legume family.
  • Fight against desertification.
Social and economic benefits:
tree nursery for Chihuahua desert
  • Involvement of farmers in the project in order to improve their living conditions, by teaching them new techniques to improve production, in a both qualitative and quantitative manner.
  • Reduction of migration of Mexican farmers abroad. 

EcoAct Guaranties:

  • Plantation, irrigation and follow-up ensured for 20 years.
  • Partnership agreement signed with the Colegio de Postgraduados of Salinas.
  • Last site visit: July 2009.
UNEP's Plant for the planet campaign

This program supports UNEP’s Plant for the planet campaign.

For more information, please contact us.