Together with our partner SENDAS and local inhabitants we are planting trees in Los Tuxtlas biosphere sanctuary in Mexico. In this way we restore the forest landscape, tackle water shortages in the region and reinforce biodiversity.
trees will be planted
forest restored
farmers are trained
families benefit from the project
various native tree species
Participants of the project with trees on their land.
Los Tuxtlas is a biosphere sanctuary, where agriculture, cattle farming and fishery are allowed within limits. But things have not always been like that. Between 1960 and 2000, cattle farming caused large-scale deforestation and, as a result, about 90% of trees and plants have disappeared from the reserve over the past 40 years.
Deforestation not only causes substantial decrease of unique biodiversity, but also increasing drought, lack of fertile soil and erosion. More and more wells run dry, whereas the people in the sanctuary desperately need them for drinking water and watering crops.
One more problem? Lost nature is hardly able to restore itself, since farmers need relatively large stretches to graze their cattle: roughly 1.5 hectares per cow. What is more, the risk of deforestation grows when farmers wish to keep more cows. Time to break these vicious circles by planting trees and offering alternatives for the farmers!
Meadows where forest used to grow and is now being restored. Photos: Caro Carvajal
Together with our partner SENDAS we assist local inhabitants to restore the forest landscape and wells in Los Tuxtlas. This done in roughly two ways: we plant trees around wells and in farmers’ properties.
First we help endemic communities planting trees around wells: sites where rainwater collects naturally. Nearly 13,000 families use these wells for their drinking water and for watering crops, but because of deforestation and increasing drought, the wells run dry more and more often. By planting trees right there, the ground retains water better, causing both higher groundwater levels and larger amounts of water in the wells.
The trees have one more important advantage: they help prevent flooding and counter erosion. When a substantial shower falls, they ‘withhold’ the water, as it were, so it can’t run down mountain slopes just like that. As a result of climate change and increasing drought, this type of extreme weather conditions will occur more and more frequently. One extra reason why restoring the forest landscape in Los Tuxtlas is so important.
Los Tuxtlas residents cannot live without wells. By planting trees, the quantity of water in these wells will increase.
Second, we support cattle farmers when planting trees, shrubs and hedges on their land, so they will use it in a more sustainable fashion. For instance, farmers will plant hedges as natural fences between parcels. They use leaves and twigs as fodder, so that they need less ground for grazing. Besides, this diminishes the need to cut new trees for cattle farming, whereas it renders more space for restoring lost nature.
Farmers also plant trees around wells and on steep slopes not suitable for keeping animals. Such reforestation gives fertile soil, better water management plus shade and cool. Not a luxury in a region getting drier end drier.
Hedges, trees and shrubs that farmers have planted on their land. They use leaves and twigs as fodder, so that they need less ground for grazing.
This project was set up by SENDAS A.C. this Mexican non-profit organization has dedicated itself to nature conservation in Los Tuxtlas since 1999. SENDAS co-operates closely with Los Tuxtlas Park Authority, Sustainable Cattle Farmers’ Network (ReGaSo) and the university (UNAM) for education, training and monitoring. Local authorities contribute their mite and the Vera Cruz Ministry of the Environment puts tree nurseries at their disposal.
– Ismael Parada Domiguez, SENDAS nurseries employee
Los Tuxtlas is situated in the Mexican state of Vera Cruz. It is famous for its gigantic natural diversity. It is home to thousands of plants and animals, such as puma, aguti, megabat and hummingbird. Since 2006 Los Tuxtlas has carried the status of ‘UNESCO Biosphere Sanctuary’, which means that it is a protected natural reserve, with limited permission of agriculture, cattle farming and fishery. Our planting locations are spread across the reserve.
In Los Tuxtlas, Trees for All supports a second SENDAS project which aims to restore mangrove forests in the reserve. In nature, after all, things are always interconnected: deforestation on volcano slopes may lead to more erosion, causing coral reefs before the coast to disappear. Do farmers decide on exotic grasses for fodder? It may lead to degradation in the mangrove forest.
For that reason, we work from an integral approach, considering the landscape as one whole and restoring it by means of various types of activity. Our ultimate target: reinforcing the entire reserve – from the tops of volcanoes down to the shoreline – by planting trees.
