{"id":50378612,"date":"2023-09-06T16:20:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-06T15:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dialogochino.net\/?post_type=photo_story&p=378612"},"modified":"2025-04-03T21:45:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-03T20:45:27","slug":"378612-brazil-looks-to-boost-recovery-of-degraded-land","status":"publish","type":"photo_story","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/food\/378612-brazil-looks-to-boost-recovery-of-degraded-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Brazil looks to boost recovery of degraded land"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Farmer Derc\u00edlio Pupin arrived in the municipality of Piracaia, S\u00e3o Paulo state, in 2013, with a vision of growing organic food. Unfortunately, his newly acquired, four-hectare plot was dry, with compacted soil and little vegetation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the state\u2019s worst ever water <\/a>crises<\/a> started that year. By 2014, the capacity of the five water reservoirs of the Cantareira system, which supply 8.8 million people in the surrounding area, shrank to almost zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The deterioration of the region\u2019s natural environment preceded this crisis. Mapping of the region at the time by the Institute for Ecological Research (IP\u00ca) revealed 21,000 hectares<\/a> of riverbanks without vegetation \u2013 areas that, by law<\/a>, should have been protected \u2013 and 100,000 hectares of degraded pastures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is soil degradation?<\/p>

Soil classed as degraded has lost its healthy characteristics, thereby limiting its ability to provide beneficial services to its ecosystem, such as retaining nutrients and water. Soil degradation can be caused by human exploitation.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Those degraded pastures included Pupin\u2019s. He tells Di\u00e1logo Chino that the former owner grazed more than 300 cattle \u201cin a disorganised way\u201d, including near springs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, however, Pupin has seen improvements in the health of his plot after taking part in restoration programmes, launched amid a national effort to recover millions of hectares of degraded land across Brazil \u2013 a drive that has gathered pace under a new president, and presented opportunities and challenges for government and growers alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/div>
Agroforestry incorporates trees into agricultural systems, and can help to improve soil health. Other potential benefits include erosion control, nutrient and moisture retention, and increased oxygenation. (Image: Lucas Ninno \/ Di\u00e1logo Chino)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"Aerial<\/div>
Aerial view of the Atibainha reservoir, one of the five artificial lakes that make up the Cantareira system, the largest supplier of water for the city of S\u00e3o Paulo(Image: Lucas Ninno \/ Di\u00e1logo Chino)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"A<\/div>
A reforested area (left) and one in the process of reforestation (right), next to the Atibainha reservoir. Riverbanks in Brazil are protected by law, but research in 2017 found vast areas around the Cantareira system had been degraded. (Image: Lucas Ninno \/ Di\u00e1logo Chino)<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

New era for land restoration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To give his land a new lease of life, Pupin joined a restoration programme run by the city council, and another by IP\u00ca called Semeando \u00c1gua<\/a> (Sowing Water). Pupin can already see improvements: \u201cThe year we arrived here, it was all clearings, there was hardly a tree\u2026 In the [newly restored] agroforestry areas, there are already places where the forest is a little more advanced; there is better infiltration [of water] into the soil.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Agroforestry<\/strong><\/span>
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Agroforestry is the practice of incorporating trees into agriculture. This can be carried out in various ways, such as planting trees in and around pastures, or farming within a forest. Trees naturally sequester carbon and improve soil health and biodiversity, so agroforestry provides a sustainable alternative to simply clearing forests for agriculture. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe idea is to turn the area around the Cantareira into a centre for agroecological production,\u201d says Alexandre Uezu, a Semeando \u00c1gua coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Semeando \u00c1gua is one of many independent initiatives across Brazil that contribute to the National Plan for Native Vegetation Recovery (Planaveg)<\/a>, published by the government in 2017. The targets of the plan include to \u201crestore, reforest and induce the natural regeneration\u201d of 12 million hectares of forest land and to create 5 million hectares of \u201cintegrated farming systems\u201d that combine croplands, pastures and forests, both by 2030.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to mapping by the Observatory of Restoration and Reforestation<\/a>, Brazil has so far added 9.35 million hectares of mostly single-crop tree plantations, but only 79,100 hectares of land has been classified as restored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, the size of the problem is much bigger than Brazil\u2019s targets suggest: according to the environmental monitoring network MapBiomas<\/a>, the country has 95.5 million hectares of degraded pastures, equivalent to the area of Venezuela. \u201cA large part of the deforested area in the country is for livestock, and these pastures are degraded,\u201d explains Ane Alencar, a researcher at the network.<\/p>\n\n\n\n