Photo: Marlowe Starling for Mongabay
Rural farmer Isidrio Hernandez-Ruiz has a soft spot for the yellow flowers of the guayacan trumpet tree which bloom across Panama each spring. It’s one reason why he’s planting native trees across his land that will soon earn him income — without harvesting them. The total reforesting project spans 100 hectares (247 acres) of planting across 45,000 hectares (111,000 acres) in the Ngäbe-Buglé Comarca, the country’s largest Indigenous territory which has been heavily deforested over the decades. Researchers and community members are collaborating to see which species grow well and which don’t. Annual carbon payments, area based rather than growth based, are key to encouraging reforestation over other land uses. Locals directly benefit from the carbon payment system without the middlemen involved in other large-scale carbon projects - a major factor why the community decided to participate, say local leaders.
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