VOLCANO VALLEY REFORESTATION (MEXICO)

The forests in Mexico, the most populous state in the country, are under increasing threat due to the destruction of large areas of forest through deforestation, forest fires and overgrazing. Poor management of natural resources is worsening the situation. Often the soil quality has already deteriorated to such an extent that natural regeneration of the forests is no longer realistic. Sustainable reforestation is the last option here to prevent further erosion by renewing protective vegetation and increasing soil fertility. As a result, the remaining forests and their resources can be saved for the future.

 

With this goal in mind, Plant-for-the-Planet Mexico A.C. and PROBOSQUE, an organization assigned to the Mexican Ministry of the Environment, agreed to cooperate in the state of México (capital Toluca) in September 2019. The first 2.8 million trees were planted in the same year.

 

The particular feature of this project is that the plantation covers a total of 197 sub-areas of varying sizes, all of which are managed in small, mostly rural structures. Of these, 92 are jointly managed ejidoes (a total of 1,913,775 trees), the remaining areas are divided between small farmers (619,925 trees) and cooperatives (290,300 trees). Within the framework of the planting cooperation with Plant-for-the-Planet, they do not only receive support for the reforestation itself, but are also advised on how to care for their forests and save them for the future in terms of sustainable forest management, as well as protecting them as an ecosystem on the whole.

 

All restored plantations have been declared protected areas. When selecting the newly planted trees, care was taken to ensure that a mixture of indigenous tree species suitable for this part of the country was selected. These include various species of pine, agaves, a mimosa species and the Mexican cypress. They integrate optimally into the still existing forests and by this contribute to the preservation of the local biodiversity of secondary plants and animals.

 

By the end of 2020, they will have planted another 1,500,000 million trees together with the small farmers organized in cooperatives, thus spreading the responsibility of tree care over many shoulders.