Amazon Agroforestry Project information - Plant Trees for Free
Our tree planting partner has developed a reforestation approach that will enable smallholders to restore value to degraded, unproductive agricultural lands. At the center of our approach is ‘agroforestry’ which restores land and generates an income for farmers, thereby reducing further deforestation pressure.
The projects fall within the Western Arc of the Amazon Rainforest in the Loreto and Ucayali regions of north-eastern Peru. This is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth and of critical importance for conservation.
The Loreto project sits in the biodiversity and carbon-rich Napo Moist Forest Eco-region; it is internationally celebrated as being among the most species-rich forests on our planet. Traditional slash-and-burn agriculture is a major driver of deforestation in Loreto. Much of this deforestation has and continues to occur in the mega biodiverse buffer zone of the Allpahuayo-Mishana National Reserve, which is home to a special type of rainforest called ‘varillal’ that develops over a white sand geology. This creates a uniquely diverse ecosystem and the reserve contains 275 species of trees and lays claim to having the highest diversity of plants per hectare globally, more than anywhere else on Earth.
As in the Loreto project area, where the partner has carried out research, communities are very poor and rely almost entirely on small-scale agriculture and ranching. Across the two regions, smallholder farmers are inhabitants of a huge swath of deforested and degraded land where rainforest has been cleared and abandoned. Therefore, community-led reforestation through agroforestry has huge potential for ecological and socio-economic benefits.
This video from Trees.org shows how agroforestry works and shows the benefits of the food forests for the population and nature. This is a different project than the WeForest project, but hopefully it will give a good impression of the principles of agroforestry.
Do you want to contribute to the Peru Amazon Agroforestry project? Install TreeClicks and plant trees for free for Peru the next time you shop online. Don't forget to select this project from our app or website.
