Scaling up the conservation of biodiversity through climate smart agro-silvopastoral practices in landscapes dominated by cattle-raising systems in Three Regions of Mexico

Mexico is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, but its biodiversity is under threat. One of the reasons for this is intensive livestock farming, because forests are still being cleared to create new pastures. This leads to negative impacts, including a decline in biodiversity and the release of greenhouse gases. To counter this trend, the project supported approaches that combine trees, arable crops and animal husbandry in holistic systems. These ‘agrosilvopastoral’ systems increase the productivity and the income of agricultural stakeholders, improve the protection of biodiversity and reduce vulnerability to the effects of climate change. To this end, the project was seeking to integrate animal husbandry systems into Mexico’s climate change and biodiversity agenda – and was also establishing an incentive scheme for biodiversity protection and climate change adaptation/mitigation.

Project data

Countries: Mexico
IKI funding: 2,965,000.00 €
Duration: 12/2016 till 12/2022
Status: completed
Implementing organisation: Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE) - Costa Rica
Political Partner: Ministry for Agriculture and Rural Development (SADER) - Mexico

National Commission for Research and Utilisation of Biodiversity (CONABIO) - Mexico
Implementing Partner: The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation in Agriculture (IICA)
Online: https://www.biopasos.com/

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State of implementation/results

Project completed.
BioPaSOS has in collaboration with the Agriculture and Environment State Secretariats and multiple stakeholders co-authored and published “Guidelines for the promotion of sustainable livestock” for Chiapas (repositorio.catie.ac.cr/…) and Campeche (repositorio.catie.ac.cr/…). Both documents will be launched during public events co-organized with both State Secretariats.
The Regional Platform for Sustainable Livestock, Biodiversity and Climate Change has been conceptualized, designed and is now fully operational. The main goal of this Regional Platform is to foster collaboration among organizations working on sustainable livestock production across Latin America and the Caribbean (Plataforma Biopasos) and it includes webinars, farmer´s testimonies, infographics of sustainable livestock initiatives and much more. (www.biopasos.com/…)
The 68 BioPaSOS Farmer Field Schools (FFS) have graduated more than 1200 farmers after successfully completing the agreed educational curriculum which was designed based on the expressed needs of farmers. In coordination with local partners, the FFS approach is being scaled up to other territories where additional livestock farmers will learn about sustainable livestock production and biodiversity conservation. To support these capacity building opportunities, BioPaSOS has published a Methodological Guide for the Facilitation of Learning Sessions in Field Schools. (repositorio.catie.ac.cr/…)
Studies about synergies in adaptation and mitigation (SAM) in the livestock sector have been completed across territories, and diverse publications highlighting findings and opportunities to increase SAM will be released in coordination with partners.
Sustainable livestock working groups have been established in each of the three intervention territories with the goal of promoting sustainable and environmentally friendly livestock production practices and biodiversity conservation.
A microcredit aimed at the livestock sector incorporating criteria to promote biodiversity conservation and reduce climate impacts was designed and implemented by microfinance institutions. There is interest from additional institutions to broaden its implementation.
BioPaSOS have successfully published project-derived scientific evidence on the contributions of silvopastoral systems to enhance carbon storage in livestock-dominated landscapes. This evidence further highlights the critical importance of retaining and/or restoring forest ecosystems and of promoting silvopastoral practices. The article has been published with open access to increase visibility and knowledge sharing. (www.nature.com/…)
Upcoming events include training sessions about FFS in Jalisco (October 2022), and project closure events in Jalisco, Chiapas and Campeche on December 2022.