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The Rain Forest

The Leucaena Tree

Agro Forestry Resource Center

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info@rainforestproject.org

Location - Concept - Scope
Plan of Action - Species to be planted - Project Summary

Location

This Technical Resource Center is in the Toledo District of Southern Belize, along the national road (Southern Highway) approximately four miles from Punta Gorda Town.

It is located strategically in an area suffering severe deforestation, both from logging and from slash and burn agriculture: a community where program interest is high.

The location is strategic for bringing workable alternatives to all of Central America, where "slash and burn" farming and grazing practices result in devastating fires that spread throughout the Region each Spring.

In 1998, the burning threatened air quality in many parts of the United States. The location permits groups and individuals from several adjacent countries rapid access to this increasingly timely and important technology.

The project is located on a 120 acre lowland parcel next to a mountain with a newly established national park where the original diversity is largely intact.

The area abounds with birds and wildlife. The wildlife and the park itself are better protected by establishment of this Center.

In the first year, five acres will be restored by planting trees.

Concept

Throughout the developing world, there is general agreement that slash and burn farming must be stopped. Worldwide Rain Forest Renaissance Project is unique in that it directly helps people restore tree cover and forests to the world's environmentally devastated lands by offering a viable alternative to this practice. It is directed to the people of the world's threatened communities, who recognize that the productivity of their lands is declining rapidly.

These communities understand that in most instances their troubles began when the surrounding forests were cleared. They feel things will only improve with the restoration of tree cover, and eventually, diverse forests. Most of them are willing to make great sacrifices so that they can continue to support themselves on their lands. At the same time, planting trees is new to them, and in order for them to implement the idea, they must see that it is possible for them, under local conditions and with their limited resources, to successfully implement these sustainable projects, which hold direct benefits for them.

Working with key farmers and volunteer local leaders, the Worldwide Rain Forest Renaissance Project will establish demonstration projects on local farms, allowing the community to see how such projects can benefit them. As the idea is accepted, the trees initially planted will provide seeds for continuing expansion of the program. Local leaders will be trained to assist the people in their communities. Field extension workers provide continuous, on-site training and planning support to these village groups, backed-stopped by organizations approved by the Worldwide Rainforest Renaissance Project.

The Center for Belize is located in an area where many successful projects have been implemented, where trained and motivated community leaders and key farmers have expressed a willingness to establish demonstration projects. Additional advantages exist because soil and climatic conditions are excellent for planting a great number of beneficial species. The farm itself is large enough to plant 3,200 seed-producing trees, for continuous production of high quality planting materials for local use, as well as for distribution to project leaders worldwide. Because the site is easily accessible from the United States, and the field trials to be undertaken there will have wide application in addressing major problems facing the region and throughout the developing world, the site should make an important contribution in providing meaningful data about these important issues.

By allowing researchers and interested others rapid access to the data, the site will help to resolve several important environmental concerns, both to the local community and potential investors. These issues include: Realistic cost projections for planting and maintaining multi-purpose trees; Amounts of carbon dioxide actually sequestered per tree/acre, as well as the duration of carbon in forest biomass; Potential for integrating multi-purpose trees with other income-generating trees and crops; The ability of trees, through leaf-fall and nitrogen-fixation, to restore and protect degraded soils; Development of agricultural systems using species of nitrogen-fixing trees as a source of protein supplement for livestock and poultry, and carbon sequestration/CO2 mitigation - addressing a major environmental threat in a cost effective manner.

A Proposal: These data, resulting from continuous field trials at this Center, will be made available to the participating communities in Belize and worldwide, to other organizations working to develop programs of environmentally sustainable development, to Peace Corps and to other concerned agencies of government. The Belize Center will be the newest, most complete, of several Resource Centers operating in Kenya, Cameroon and the Philippines. Others will be established in Honduras and Nepal.

These Centers train and support local technicians, with on site assistance by technicians selected by Worldwide Rain Forest Renaissance Project. Emphasis is placed on resolving problems that especially affect the economy and ecology of the particular community. These Centers offer continuous, on farm planting assistance, with group meetings both at the Center and in participating villages. Because deforestation is a special concern among women in developing areas of the world, staff will be trained to develop projects that address these needs.

The long-range goal of all these Centers is to strengthen local institutions. By the end of the third year of operations of many of these activities, including continuation of the extension support to farmers, will be maintained by local institutions, allowing the staff of WWRFRP to establish new Centers, so the program will continuously grow.

Scope

Based on our 25 years of experience, with successful projects in southern Belize, we project that the Center will annually assist more than 1,650 new families, with a typical family planting 700 or more trees per year. The result will be the annual re-greening and restoration of a total land area or more than 700 hectares (1,730 acres) of now degraded land, through the planting of more than 1,155,000 beneficial, fast growing trees. This is in addition to trees planted by continuing expansion of projects started in previous years. The extension program works directly with several farmer organizations and women's associations, and the Association of Alcaldes, comprised of the mayors of 27 communities in Toledo District. Where logistically possible, the Center will additionally provide technology, including planting materials and planning assistance to organizations in neighboring districts. Some of the major benefits of this afforestation program include:

• Protection of Threatened Forest Areas
• Rebuilding of Degraded Souls
• Preventing Siltation of Streams
• Building Effective Local Institutions
• Improved Air Quality
• Restoration of Groundwater Aquifers
• Erosion Control
• Sustainably High Food Production
• Return of Endangered species
• Sequestration of Atmospheric Carbon
• Allowing the People of these Communities to Continue Living Productive Lives on their Own Lands

Plan of Action

1. Present Situation: the land for the Center has been selected and a lease was arranged for a period of five years. Initially, five acres of land will be planted. The program can be expanded, if desired, in succeeding years by renting additional land (the total land available is 120 acres).

2. Several local groups from both the Maya and Garifuna communities have already expressed a desire to work in cooperation with this facility, extending technology for environmentally sustainable agriculture to their members. Leaders of these groups are being brought into the planning process, to ensure this Center will provide the greatest possible benefit to the entire community.

3. Seedlings of multi-purpose, fast growing (MPFG) trees from certified planting materials are being produced in seedbed nurseries nearby, for transplanting when growing conditions permit. Seedlings of more valuable trees, including fruit and timber species, have been located for transplanting at the Center. The MPFG trees will be planted at intervals that produce almost a complete canopy, in the protection of which various tree species and other crops will be planted.

4. Land preparation and transplanting are being performed by the farm worker and the candidates for extension work, as part of their training. This early training will be held almost entirely in the participating villages, establishing and managing seedbeds, later transplanting and managing the trees as part of agro-forestry and community woodlot systems.

5. The training of community leaders and candidates to serve as extension technicians will begin with the land preparation and tree planting at the Center. It will be continued in the cooperating villages, as part of the on-site planning and training assistance.

6. For research purposes, baseline data will be gathered concerning factors such as soil fertility. Growth of trees and total biomass production will be determined by weighing at regular intervals throughout the year. As a control component, the productivity of fruit and timber trees grown in proximity to the MPFG trees will be compared to that of trees maintained in traditional systems. These data will be independently analyzed, for purposes of verification through a (proposed) program of cooperation with the Life Sciences Department of the University of Maryland, after which the information will be made available to all interested parties.

7. From the 3,200+ MPFG trees of several beneficial species that will be planted on the research farm, seeds will be harvested and processed, for distribution to local groups in Belize and Central America. This Center is projected to become the main seed source for the global program of WWRFRP.

8. The MPFG trees will be planted at distances of about 7' x 10'. They will be maintained in a way that assures a continuous canopy over the entire area. In this partial shade other tree species and various cash crops will be produced, using leaf fall mulch for the majority of fertilizer. Harvest records will be maintained to demonstrate the comparative benefit of using a sustainable agriculture system vs. annual burning over of the land.

9. A building, located on the land, is being renovated to serve as both a field office and meeting place for small groups. Extension workers from concerned agencies of the Belize Government have been invited to use this Center to meet with local organizations.

Species to be planted

The tree species to be planted at the Belize Center include the following.

Project Summary

Responding to the perceived need of small scale farmers and ranchers throughout the developing world, Worldwide Rain Forest Renaissance Project has developed a practical technology for environmentally sustainable agriculture.

Where this technology has been demonstrated, it has been readily accepted and implemented. Because so many new communities are now requesting assistance, because ours is a comprehensive program addressing a large number of local issues, and because of the need for continuous technical support in these communities, it is necessary to make the program as complete and efficient as possible. That can only be achieved by training and supporting a cadre of local extension personnel who, with the support of a local staff technician, can assist their own, and neighboring communities, on a continuous basis. This can best be achieved by establishing Technical Resource Centers in areas where the program can be rapidly and continuously expanded. Such Centers are in the process of being established in several countries.

The success rate, based on total numbers of participants and total land areas being restored is most encouraging. The Center to be established in southern Belize will be the most complete and comprehensive, to this time. It will be located in an area where the need is high and where the program has been working successfully for several years. This Center will be located on land that will serve as both a demonstration farm and as a seed production facility, to support the program for all of Central and South America, and the Caribbean. It will be a source of seeds and other planting materials of the newest improved species, for participating communities worldwide. This Center will additionally serve as a research facility in which field trials are to be conducted, to determine the productivity of these environmentally sustainable alternatives to traditional, destructive farming and grazing systems.

The data determined by this continuing study will be made available to all interested parties, in the hope of ending the cycle of poverty and despair in which these communities now find themselves. To contact the Worldwide Rain Forest Renaissance Project, simply click, or write to PO Box 878, Georgetown, TX 78627 or call at (512) 863-8541, fax (512) 863-9861.