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FOCUS: Trees at the heart of climate-smart landscapes
This month, the Global Landscapes Forum, held on the sidelines of the climate change negotiations in Warsaw, sought to build consensus around the view that the fates of forests and agriculture are closely bound. Although the talk at the Forum was dominated by powerful appeals for a "landscape approach" and "climate-smart agriculture" to help tackle both climate change and food security challenges, the role of forests and trees was never far behind when concrete examples were marshaled as evidence.
For example, the Minister of Environment for Costa Rica shared his country's success in turning around its rural landscapes in terms of forest recovery: Costa Rica's forest cover went from 75% in 1940 to 21% in 1987 back to 52.3% today, through a wealth of incentives and programs including payments for environmental services.
Landscape restoration assessments from Mexico and Guatemala, which were discussed at the Forum's Knowledge for Impact Cafe, also provided an inspiring road map of what could be done by harnessing the power of trees to heal rural landscapes, increase shared prosperity, store carbon and safeguard biodiversity.
Lastly, climate change talk insider Tony La Vi�a, a fixture of past Forest Days, made a passionate case for pursuing climate change mitigation and adaptation goals together. Reflecting on the typhoon that ripped through his home country, the Philippines, he talked about areas that fared better than others because of adaptation measures, but also highlighted that climate change mitigation (through carbon storage in forests and climate-smart farmland) was an urgent priority since no amount of adaptation could help protect from such extreme weather. See also:
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