Amazon Region

The Amazon Basin is so diverse that one could say many
Amazons exist, not just one. Indeed, its diversity is
considered unique in the world. Although the Basin occupies
7% of the planet’s land, it carries 25% of the world’s
terrestrial biodiversity. The region is so vast, it represents
one-third of South America’s land surface. It covers, or partly
covers, nine countries: Colombia (36% of the land area),
Venezuela and Guyana (6% each), Suriname and French
Guiana (almost 100% each), Brazil (60%), Bolivia and Peru
(75% together), and Ecuador (45%).
Yet, more than 100 million hectares of this complex of
ecosystems, that is, 16%, have been deforested. With this
loss, important environmental services have been degraded,
for example, the conservation of biodiversity, storage of
carbon dioxide, regulation of regional and global climates,
and regulation of water cycles. The drive behind this
deforestation has been, and still is, extensive agriculture of
such low productivity that, in a few years, as soils deteriora
te,
it becomes unproductive. More forest is then cleared,
repeating the cycle. The situation is further exacerbated by
climate change phenomena and the region’s vulnerability to
these.
CIAT’s role
CIAT has worked in the Amazon for more than 30 years. It
has contributed towards such aspects as developing
eco-efficient crop-and-livestock systems; improving markets
for small farmers; monitoring and analyzing deforestation;
and directing research at understanding, mitigating, and
adapting to climate change. These activities were carried out
in collaboration with a strong network of entities, including
some strengthened by CIAT’s participation in the
international consortium
Amazon Initiative
.
The pressure to conserve and sustainably use the Amazon
requires strategic action. CIAT scientists, working with
external actors, have formulated a strategy to provide a
framework for collaborative efforts in this region.
The strategy encompasses two general foci: first, to
understand the dynamics of the Amazon Region. Activities
will include monitoring environmental, social, and economic
changes of different Amazon landscapes. Findings will then
be used to visualize future scenarios in the context of climate
change. The second focus is to create and use models for
intensifying land use through eco-efficient production
systems in those areas of the Amazon that have long since
been heavily degraded.
General objective
CIAT’s general mission is to promote eco-efficient agriculture
for reducing poverty. Within this framework lies the strategy’s
central objective to create models that describe eco-efficient
landscapes, ranging from the farm to the watershed, for the
Amazon Region.
V.H. Hirsch
Abridged version
Areas of action
CIAT will focus its areas of action in the Amazon on three
intimately linked themes:
Monitoring the Amazon
: Geographical information tools
such as Terra-i and IAViewer will be used to support
countries in monitoring the Amazon Region. To provide
elements for decision-making, the focus will be on
changes in land use and on the generation of economic,
environmental, and social indicators.
Optimizing land-use systems
: The Center will generate
models of soil restoration and intensive and sustainable
management of degraded areas, focusing on
agroecosystems. It will use its experience in (i) the
management of crops, soils, crop-forage rotations, and
access to markets; and (ii) analysis of economic impact
to improve farm productivity in an integrated way. CIAT
will prioritize crop research on cassava, forages, rice, and
fruits, which are widely grown in the Amazon. This work is
expected to contribute significantly to the conservation of
the Amazon Region as a whole.
Improving access to markets is fundamental for
generating not only eco-efficient farms (whose carbon
footprints are small), but also substantially upgrading
living standards for rural populations. The Center’s
strategy is to involve communities in participatory and
interactive exercises to construct and develop valid
marketing options. Markets would be visualized from the
perspective of crops and their production chains, thus
giving an aggregate value to the Amazon’s conservation
by recognizing the environmental services it provides.
Mitigating and adapting to climate change
: The most
efficient strategy for mitigating climate change in the
Amazon Region is to stop deforestation. This is the goal
of options such as REDD+. CIAT’s challenge, in contrast,
is to recuperate areas already deforested and to
mitigate climate change in systems such as extensive
livestock-raising. This can be done by, for example,
converting them into intensive and sustainable
agrosilvopastoral systems.