Illegal crops, mining, and migratory agriculture destroy Peru’s forests.

With the participation of ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean, the Peruvian Government through the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (Minagri) inaugurated the Fourth Annual Meeting of the 20 x 20 Initiative, to stop deforestation, implement a mixed agriculture, and develop forestry and forestry, announced the minister, Gustavo Mostajo.

“In order not to continue degrading the lands and deforesting them, we propose alternatives for cocoa or coffee crops in ecologically sustainable and profitable mixed activities, rather than subsistence agriculture,” said the owner of Minagri to Diario Voces.

Peru has 73 million hectares of forest, equivalent to more than 56% of the national territory, said Mostajo to this media. “These areas contain timber and non-timber products, which are resources that allow food security, provide medicines, economic income, and environmental services”, he informed.

Deforestation is mainly due to almost 80% of migratory agriculture, as well as the growth of illicit crops and mining.

The 20 x 20 Initiative’s Annual Meeting began yesterday and continues today in Lima with representatives from Argentina, Colombia, Belize, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Honduras. This event was created at the Conference of the Parties (COP20) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change held in 2014 in Lima.

(Source)

(Cover Photo Wikimedia Commons)

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