The importance of rainforest protection and agroforestry

Rainforest conservation – including both preserving primary forest and restoring degraded forests – is a critical climate solution. Standing forests are some of the world’s largest carbon reserves, but they are being destroyed at an alarming rate. Only in 2020, the world lost 12 million hectares of tropical tree cover (Global Forest Watch). Burning or cutting down forests contributes to climate change, since all the carbon that is normally stored in them gets released into the atmosphere. It is estimated that the emissions resulting from the loss of tropical forests every year are now higher than what 85 million cars would produce over their entire lifetime.

However, healthy standing forests absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere very effectively; in fact, Global Forest Watch found that the world’s forests sequestered about twice as much carbon dioxide as they emitted between 2001 and 2019, and that forests are capable of providing 23 percent of the cost-effective climate mitigation needed before 2030. This makes the conservation of standing forests a top priority in the global agenda. Moreover, forests are home to over half of the world’s known species of plants and animals; they provide vital goods and services to all of us, including clean water and air, food, everyday products, medicines, and climate regulation; and they are home to millions of people who depend on them for their livelihoods, and who represent invaluable cultural diversity.

Agroforestry is a system of land management in which trees are grown alongside crops or pastures. By planting trees with crops, the agroecosystem is diversified, enhancing its functionality and sustainability by creating processes that more closely mimic those that operate in natural ecosystems. In addition to creating more sustainable ways of farming, agroforestry also allows farmers to produce a wider range of marketable products in the same amount of land. Trees produce fruits, nuts, medicines, and wood products, for example, that can be marketed along with other crops. Agroforestry not only strengthens farmer livelihoods from income generation, but it also increases biodiversity, improves soil health and nitrogen fixation, reduces erosion, and promotes carbon sequestration.

By building strong livelihoods through sustainable farming, agroforestry is a great way to indirectly protect rainforests. Since it provides an alternative source of income that does not involve deforestation, agroforestry brings stability to communities, empowers them, and gives them more effective ownership over their lands, so that they can better manage and protect them. Therefore, giving communities a solid, sustainable alternative for their livelihoods means not only sparing forests, but creating a system that benefits from their health and integrity.