*[Enwl-eng] [wildlife-climate] Fwd: SFB Weekly: How to farm sustainably in the Amazon rainforest

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                        A solutions-oriented weekly digest from Struggles 
>From Below
                        07/08/21

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                        In our latest longread, Brian Barth and Flávia 
Milhorance report from a groundbreaking Brazilian community demonstrating 
how to farm sustainably in the Amazon rainforest.

                        Open a new road in the Amazon and deforestation most 
often follows, creating a landscape of big sky, white cows, and green 
pastures. But on back roads around the frontier town of Nova Califórnia, in 
a remote corner of northwestern Brazil, a renewed verdant canopy closes in.

                        These forests exist because a local agroforestry 
cooperative called RECA has made it economically viable to plant and tend 
them, an especially important endeavour at a time when the rainforest is 
being razed at an alarming rate. For decades, cattle ranching has been the 
dominant economic activity in the Amazon, driving 80% of forest loss.

                        Ranchers get caught in a vicious cycle, felling 
forest and establishing pastures that quickly deplete the nutrients in the 
thin tropical soils. Once depleted, yields of beef per acre diminish, so the 
ranchers move on, converting more forest to pastures until those soils are 
shot, too. So far, nearly a fifth of the Amazon has been cleared. But 
because agroforestry systems require far less land than cattle to make a 
living, they could take the pressure off the rainforest that remains—if they 
were more widely implemented.

                        RECA, a co-op founded in 1989, demonstrates how it 
could be done. The natural rainforest preserves biodiversity, protects soil 
and water, and sequesters carbon in its trees, mitigating climate change. 
RECA’s farmers approximate that ecosystem, densely planting up to 40 species 
in their recreated rainforest parcels.

                        The co-op processes about a dozen of these species 
into food products sold throughout Brazil: fruit juice, palm hearts, oils. 
The rest, including medicinal plants, supply local markets. Others are 
planted simply to benefit soil and wildlife. Some of the harvest is even 
exported. RECA’s top crop is cupuaçu, a relative of the cacao tree. Its 
seeds are pressed into an oil purchased by the Brazilian cosmetics 
conglomerate Natura, which owns Avon and The Body Shop. L’Occitane, the 
French cosmetics company with stores across the United States, buys the 
seeds of the cumaru tree, which lend a vanilla-almond fragrance to the 
company’s Cumaru Raiz cologne.

                        The more than 300 families in the co-op earn about 
five times more per acre from their agroforestry plots annually than local 
ranchers do from their pastures.


                        Read the article



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                        What we're reading:

                        The seas are rising. Could oysters help?
                        How a landscape architect is enlisting nature to 
defend our coastal cities against climate change—and doing it on the cheap. 
THE NEW YORKER


                        How pedestrians are lighting homes in Sierra Leone
                        Nearly three quarters of the population of Sierra 
Leone struggle to get access to electricity, but a device that harnesses the 
power of vibrations is bringing light to communities in energy poverty. BBC 
FUTURE


                        How LA cleared most Venice Beach homeless camps and 
sheltered many unhoused people
                        About 200 people camping out on Venice beach were 
given a place to stay through a ‘housing-first’ approach. Community groups 
and entrepreneurs along the boardwalk pushed the city government to clear up 
the beach to attract more business. Temporary housing in hotels has been 
provided until October. LOS ANGELES TIMES


                        Colombia's Medellin plants 'green corridors' to beat 
rising heat
                        As growing parts of the world grapple with 
unprecedented heatwaves, cities are on the frontline of efforts to keep 
people safe. THOMSON REUTERS FOUNDATION


                        A new ‘green status of species’ will measure the 
recovery of threatened plants and animals
                        Rather than focus on decline, the new standard from 
the IUCN highlights successful conservation work—and incentivises future 
efforts. THE WASHINGTON POST


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                        One to ponder:

                        Man v food: is lab-grown meat really going to solve 
our nasty agriculture problem?
                        If cellular agriculture is going to improve on the 
industrial system it is displacing, it needs to grow without passing the 
cost on to workers, consumers and the environment. THE GUARDIAN

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                        Quote of the week:

                        "If knowledge can create problems, it is not through 
ignorance that we can solve them." – Isaac Asimov

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                        Song of the week:

                        A la Memoria del Muerto - Fruko Y Sus Tesos





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                        That's it for today, folks. If you're enjoying this 
newsletter, please do forward it on to any friends who might be into it.

                        All the best,

                        Ollie

                        Founder & Editor-in-Chief, Struggles From Below























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reserved.
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--

От: Struggles From Below <ollie at strugglesfrombelow.com>
Date: сб, 7 авг. 2021 г. в 09:00
Subject: SFB Weekly: How to farm sustainably in the Amazon rainforest



From: Svet Zabelin
Sent: Saturday, August 07, 2021 10:11 AM
Subject: [wildlife-climate] Fwd: SFB Weekly: How to farm sustainably in the 
Amazon rainforest



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