Mexican restoration dominated by non-environmental interests

seedlingWith its towering natural walls, Sumidero Canyon National Park is one of the main tourist attractions in Chiapas state in southern Mexico. Protecting mostly dry tropical forest — one of the most threatened ecosystems in the world — the 22,000-hectare (54,360-acre) reserve is home to more than 1,700 species of fauna and flora, of which […]

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Alternatives to farmwork empower communities and save forests, study finds

Protected areas are important for saving tropical forests and biodiversity, but for them to be effective, local communities living around the reserves need to have access to non-agricultural jobs, a new study says. The research shows that human activity, mainly agriculture, outside of forest reserves has a direct impact on forest cover within the protected […]

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Regenerative agriculture in Mexico boosts yields while restoring nature

fieldNUEVO MEXICO, Mexico — Standing in her cornfield in Chiapas state, surrounded by mountains and dry tropical forests, Maria Luisa Gordillo Mendoza looks concerned. “They said we were pigs for sowing like this,” she says of the other farmers’ reaction to her fields covered with sticks and old corn husks and dotted with lanky trees. […]

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Community-based seed banks in Nepal help conserve native species

Nepal seed bankMARAMCHE, NEPAL— The monsoon clouds that arrive in Nepal in the first week of June herald the start of the rice-planting season. The country’s hills, valleys and plains turn green as farmers take to their muddy fields to start sowing the crop that will feed them for the whole year. As most farmers turn to […]

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