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| Korean Ambassador to Guatemala Jang Ha-yeon, right, provides an explanation about the seedlings cultivated by KOICA's project to Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food of Guatemala Jose Angel Lopez, center, and the head of the farmers' association, Lionel Delgado, at a meeting to share the interim results of KOICA's climate change response project in Coban, Guatemala, Feb. 2. Courtesy of KOICA |
By Kang Seung-woo
Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) has restored a 4,311-hectare forest, about 15 times the area of Seoul's financial district Yeouido, in central and northern Guatemala as part of a project to strengthen the region's adaptability to climate change and eventually reduce local greenhouse gases by a total of 44,196 metric tons, according to the state-run overseas aid agency, Wednesday.
KOICA's Guatemala office announced the outcomes and estimates at a meeting to share the interim results of the project ― which lasts from 2018 to 2023 ― in Coban, Guatemala on Feb. 2.
Titled, "Addressing climate change through climate smart interventions in forest and farm systems in Guatemala," the $7-million project is led by KOICA in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.
It aims to restore damaged forests in the areas of Alta Verapaz, Baja Verapaz and Peten in central and northern Guatemala, and to help small-scale farmers receive government subsidies related to forest conservation, the KOICA said.
Since the project's launch, some 4,311 hectares of the targeted 4,666 hectares have been successfully restored. The restoration process has involved planting seedlings in the impoverished soil, then repairing and expanding irrigation facilities.
The government of Guatemala, currently experiencing severe forest damage caused by indiscriminate logging, has implemented a policy to provide subsidies to farmers who plant and grow seedlings to restore forests. However, initially, the policy was not fully effective because the seedlings were too expensive for local farmers to purchase, and because of the complicated process of applying for the subsidies.
KOICA's project aided farmers to increase their revenue while conserving forestry by providing seedlings of plants that have high commercial value and grow rapidly ― such as coffee and cacao. KOICA also educated farmers about filling out application forms, including reforestation and forest management plans, to receive the related subsidies from the government. Farmers who participated in the forestry restoration through KOICA's project will be able to receive related subsidies of $10 million, averaging $3,000 per farmer, from the Guatemalan government throughout the next 10 years.
In addition to forest restoration, as the project enters its later phase this year, KOICA plans to provide facilities and equipment ― worth $1 million ― that store and process coffee, cacao, cardamom and wood to local farmers' associations. The plan is to build 11 tree nursery buildings, where young tree seedlings are given special care, and to provide farming education on commercially viable trees, including coffee and cacao.
"In the past, when the Guatemalan government made improvements to the subsidy program for forest conservation, the rate of participation of farmers was low," said Rony Granados, the director of the National Forest Institute of Guatemala, at the Feb. 2 meeting.
"Now, however, the participation of local farmers is so high that we need to actively secure the subsidy budget every year. This progress is thanks to KOICA's project and its targeting of the exact reasons behind low participation in the subsidy program."
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