Unfortunately, the climate crisis is not stopping at our planting areas on the Yucatán Peninsula. Our remedy against fires and floods: biodiversity. We plant as many different native tree species as possible (currently up to 30), thereby spreading the risks of the climate crisis across many different tree species and minimizing them.
But we are also already directly impacted by the effects of the climate crisis. In 2020, the state of Campeche was hit by several hurricanes and tropical storms that caused severe flooding and caused significant damage https://bit.ly/3aBxpvr.
At the height of the season, 54% (~651 ha) of our Las Américas 1 restoration site was flooded, leaving 763,257 trees planted in 2015 and 2016 underwater for months.
In December 2013, Plant-for-the-Planet A.C., Mexico purchased this Las Américas 1 site and in 2015 continued the restoration project with the same tree species that the previous owner had started there. The previous owner received financial support for this from CONAFOR, the Mexican government’s national forestry agency.
Plant-for-the-Planet also hired forest engineer Carlos Luna in 2014. We had planted unsuitable seedlings there for a potential flood area and no one had recognized it.
To compensate for the damage done, forest engineer Carlos Luna is providing us with one million saplings free of charge and with the support of Plant-for-the-Planet, Mexico and Plant-for-the-Planet, Germany we will plant one new tree for every damaged tree by the end of 2020, 20% in the same location and 80% in other regions.
We have also massively expanded the team of ecologists. Our nine-member team of ecologists from Plant-for-the-Planet A.C., Mexico, led by the scientific director of the Plant-for-the-Planet Foundation Germany, Dr. Leland Werden, has already developed the restoration plan for the current 2021 season, including soil investigation, species selection, and GIS study, and had it approved by the newly established, independent panel of experts.
However, it must be clear to all of us that we will always remain powerless against the effects of the climate crisis (floods, fires,storms, ….), while at the same time we must become better and share our knowledge worldwide.
Cf. our Transparency Report: https://bit.ly/3zmEbQF
