How regenerative agroforestry could solve the climate crisis

Dec 20, 2019

A tractor works on a wheat plantation on land that used to be virgin Amazon rainforest near the city of Santarem, Para State, April 20, 2013. The Amazon rainforest is being eaten away at by deforestation, much of which takes place as areas are burnt by large fires to clear land for agriculture. Initial data from Brazil's space agency suggests that destruction of the vast rainforest - the largest in the world - spiked by more than a third over the past year, wiping out an area more than twice the size of the city of Los Angeles. If the figures are borne out by follow-up data, they would confirm fears of scientists and environmental activists who warn that farming, mining and Amazon infrastructure projects, coupled with changes to Brazil's long-standing environmental policies, are reversing progress made against deforestation. Environmental issues will be under the spotlight as a United Nations Climate Change Conference opens in Warsaw, Poland on November 11. Picture taken on April 20, 2013.

Intensified, monoculture farming, drives land degradation and soil erosion, threatening biodiversity and food supplies Image: REUTERS/Nacho Doce

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Demands on arable land in more and less developed countries Image: Farming First

Which sectors contribute to greenhouse gas emissions? Image: FAO

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