Latin America stands out for its work in saving the environment

Biodiversity loss is a situation that plagues Latin America. According to the ‘Living Planet 2022’ report by the World Nature Fund (WWF), the largest decline in average population abundance is occurring in Latin America, as well as 83% of the global decline in wild animals. Freshwater due to the effects of climate change and overexploitation of the species.

In the same report, it was reported that there was a loss of 17% of forests in the region due to increased deforestation that has reached a point of no return, especially in the Brazilian Amazon.

On the other hand, Panama and the rest of the Central American region are among the high priority areas for risk mitigation for all taxonomic species.

Given this reality, various initiatives aimed at preserving the environment have emerged in Latin America.

Last Tuesday, two of these were recognized at this year’s United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15) in Canada, which will run through next Monday, where one of the hottest topics of conversation presents a solution to the decline of biodiversity in Latin America.

Trinational Pact

Various expert organizations in the environmental, social and economic contexts of Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay are collaborating to save forests in the Atlantic Forest with the Atlantic Forest Restoration Charter and the Tripartite Network for Atlantic Forest Restoration.

These three countries have the same goal in mind: to restore 15 million hectares of this important region of the South American ecoregion by 2050.

Home to 148 million people, the Atlantic Forest in South America is also one of the richest areas on the planet in terms of biodiversity and home to such iconic species as jaguars, toucans, and sloths.

In this region there are 7% of the plants and 5% of the animals on Earth, many of these species are endemic, which is a unique characteristic of this ecoregion.

However, the Atlantic Forest is also one of the most endangered areas in the world, and currently only 12% of the original forest remains intact in separate parts, due to the occurrence of a number of humans.

“This recognition by the United Nations is a door to new opportunities that allow to strengthen the restoration of the Atlantic Forest and bring more benefits. Of the Atlantic Forest,” said Lucia Lazari, landscape coordinator of the Fundación Vida Silvestre Argentina, one of the organizations that cooperates in the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest.

dry corridor

The second Latin American initiative recognized by the United Nations is the reconstruction of the Central American Dry Corridor.

This area is 600 km long and 100 to 400 km wide. Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are the countries of the project which is trying to salvage the agricultural resources in the region to build up the biodiversity that was losing little by little.

60% of the population in these areas lives in poverty, and this affects food insecurity, deforestation and access to basic resources such as water.

Among the objectives of this activity is to increase soil fertility and water availability, as well as restore 100,000 hectares by 2030. This initiative is also expected to create at least 5,000 permanent jobs by then.

Another project that has been recognized by the United Nations: marine reclamation in Abu Dhabi. the Great Green Wall in Burkina Faso and Niger; replenishment of the Ganges River in India; mountain restoration in Rwanda and Uganda; restoration of unique systems in the Comoros, Saint Lucia and Vanuatu; Altyn Dala Preservation Initiative in Kazakhstan; building natural structures to protect mangroves in Java, Indonesia; and the Shan-Shui Initiative, which has 75 projects in China.