Resilient production to mitigate climate change

Executive Summary

The worldwide demand for food is expected to grow above 70% by 2050, with a particular need for animal protein supply, which must be satisfied by increasing agricultural production. Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) is considered a privileged region as it has significant natural land resources, a relatively low population density, and a high potential for increasing agricultural production. However, although more than 90% of the cultivated area in LAC is considered suitable for agriculture, the impact of climate change could negatively affect the capacity of these systems to provide ecosystem services, increasing their vulnerability to extreme climate events and reducing their productivity potential. Then, the general objective of this technical cooperation is to contribute to the resilience and climate change mitigation capacity of LAC livestock systems. This will be achieved through the evaluation of integration practices with forest systems that allow increasing system carbon reserves, productive diversification, and environmental sustainability. Integrated agricultural systems, enhanced with sustainable intensification practices, are proposed as a critical solution to achieve high and stable yields while minimizing environmental impacts. The technical cooperation between Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Brazil, and the Dominican Republic will allow quantifying the impacts of the livestock and forest systems (SSP) integration on environmental and productive an indicator in different edaphoclimatic situations. The project outcomes will provide helpful information to identify and promote the most successful management practices that contribute maintaining/enhancing the productivity potential of the systems without increasing greenhouse gases emission (GHG). To achieve those goals, we propose soil carbon stock measurements to evaluate the SSP potential for climate change mitigation and the field assessment of selected physicochemical and biological indicators of soil health as main axes that provide resilience to the systems. GHG emissions will be measured or calculated by the IPCC guidelines. The carbon footprint of integrated systems will be calculated and compared traditional livestock systems. The project results will be available to the public and private sectors to promote policies that contribute to the implementation of SSP in ALC by considering the particularities of each country and productive region.

The technological solution

Integration of livestock production systems with forestry systems (silvopastoral systems – SSP)

Results

Beneficiaries

The total direct beneficiaries will be 2,510 people, classified as follows according to country. Argentina participates with a total of 462 (18.4%), Brazil with a total of 963 (38.3%), Chile with a total of 323 (12.9%), Uruguay with a total of 664 (26.5%) and the Dominican Republic with a total of 98 (3.9%). Regarding the type of beneficiaries reached, 37 Research Institutes/Experimental Stations, 18 Universities, 247 researchers/professionals/Students and 2,230 producers will be involved. It is estimated that indirect and potential beneficiaries reach 9,000 in Argentina, 4,000 in Chile, 12,000 in Brazil, 6,000 in Uruguay and 2,000 in the Dominican Republic.

Sustainable Development Goals

Main donors