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QCDs: Pay Less Taxes. Help the Planet

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Are you a retired individual with a tax-deferred Individual Retirement Account (IRA)?

Once you reach a certain age, you’re required to start withdrawing money from your IRA. The additional income you receive can push you into a higher tax bracket, which means you’ll have to pay more taxes. This can have a significant impact on your net income. 

Because of this, many retirees opt to donate the money (all or part of it) to their chosen institutions. Known as the qualified charitable distribution (QCD) rule, this requirement enables them to deduct certain amounts from their annual taxable income.

The result is a win-win because their withdrawals don’t get taxed, they can remain in the same tax bracket, and they get to choose which causes to support.

If you’re interested in enacting the QCD rule to help nonprofits like Paso Pacifico, join us as we tell you all you need to know.

What Are QCDs?

A qualified charitable distribution is a tax-free withdrawal from a traditional IRA that is donated to one or more qualified charities. 

Also called IRA charitable rollovers or IRA charitable distributions, it enables individuals who are 70 1⁄2 years old and above to donate their withdrawals without being taxed. 

The amount withdrawn is known as the required minimum distribution (RMD). As of 2024, qualified individuals can give up to $105,000 annually from their RMDs as tax-exempt donations.

How Do QCDs Work?

If a person wants to fulfill their required minimum distributions through QCDs, they must have one of the following IRA types (which are not employer-sponsored):

Under certain circumstances—such as when an individual doesn’t meet the requirements for a qualified distribution—they can avail of the QCD with a Roth IRA. The Roth IRA typically doesn’t require withdrawals until the beneficiary’s death.

However, this is rarely advantageous as distributions from a Roth IRA are generally tax-free.

Note that for non-inherited IRAs, the QCD will be reported as normal distribution on IRS Form 1099-R. You can refer to IRS Form 1040 for more information regarding this. 

Understanding the Intricacies of QCDs

For your QCD to count towards your RMD, the money should not pass through your hands. Your donation must come directly from your IRA account through an electronic funds transfer or a check initiated by the IRA custodian. You can also deliver it yourself, but you’ll have to ensure that the donation gets a written acknowledgment from the charity of your choice.

Remember, QCDs can only be made during the current calendar year, usually until December 31. If you missed the deadline and didn’t use your RMD as a QCD when you were supposed to, it can’t be counted towards the previous year and will still be subject to taxation.

To avoid this, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recommends following the first-dollar-out rule. It essentially means that you should arrange your QCD with the IRA and your chosen charity first and during the early part of the year before withdrawing whatever’s left. This gives them time to complete the transaction while allowing you to enjoy the QCD’s tax-exempt benefits.

What Types of Charities Are Eligible for QCD?

Not every organization categorized as a charity qualifies for QCD. Based on the tax code, only charities classified as 501(c)(3) organizations (like Paso Pacifico, EIN 20-3396421) are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions. Donating to private foundations, donor-advised funds, and supporting organizations won’t exempt your RMD from taxes.

Retirees can also donate their RMDs to split-interest entities, nonprofits that manage the funds they receive and share them with other beneficiaries (usually noncharitable). 

As of 2024, qualified IRA account holders can make a one-time donation of up to $54,000 to the following types of split-interest entities:

  • charitable remainder annuity trusts (CRATs)
  • charitable remainder unitrusts (CRUTs)
  • charitable gift annuities

What’s unique about this option is the donor receives a fixed percentage of their donated funds for life.

However, there are certain rules that determine your eligibility. Before giving a gift, it’s best to consult a tax advisor.

Benefits of QCDS

Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of QCDs.

Lower Your RMDs

As of January 2023, IRA account holders must start withdrawing their RMDs once they turn 73 years old. If it is not withdrawn, they could be liable for a 50% excise tax on the amount that wasn’t distributed. 

Fortunately, you can start using QCDs as early as 70 ½ years old. Doing so reduces your IRA balance and lowers your RMD withdrawals in the future. 

Pay Less Income Taxes 

Regular withdrawals from IRAs are taxable. When you use your required withdrawals as QCDs, however, they aren’t considered taxable income. Plus, they don’t have to be itemized, which significantly lowers your adjustable gross income (AGI) if you apply the standard deduction.

This keeps you from being pushed into higher income brackets so you aren’t taxed as much. It also keeps you safe from phaseouts, which can limit your tax credits and deductions.

Here’s a Simplified Example

A 74-year-old has an annual RMD of $15,000 and an annual pension of $50,000. This brings his annual total income to $65,000, making him qualified for 2024’s $59,851 to $95,350 tax bracket. 

Without the RMD, the retiree would only have to pay 12% in taxes. But because the RMD moved him up to the next tax bracket, he now has to pay 22% in income taxes.

Without the QCD rule and under his new tax bracket, he would pay $14,300 in taxes and only get to keep $50,700 from the original $65,000. [$65,000 x 22% = $14,300, he keeps $50,700]

With the QCD rule, he can donate $2,000 to revert to his former tax bracket. This means that he would only pay $7,560 in taxes and get to keep $55,440. [($65,000 – $2,000) X 12% = $7,560, keeps $55,440]

$55,440 versus $50,700 may not seem like much but imagine if higher amounts were involved. Heads of households who earn over $609,350 a year get taxed 37%!

Support Your Favorite Charities

Thanks to QCDs, you can make a larger charitable gift as the amount comes directly from your IRA. Since you aren’t receiving your RMD as income, you don’t have to pay income tax on it, which makes your contribution bigger than cash and other appreciated securities. 

If you and your spouse are at least 70 ½ years old and have tax-deferred IRAs, you can double your donation to $210,000 through married filing jointly.

How Do QCDs Compare to Charitable Deductions? 

Charitable deductions are often mentioned as a means to offset taxes but how do they compare to QCDs?

QCDs can only be used by individuals who are at least 70 ½ years old and have tax-deferred IRA accounts. The maximum annual QCD is $105,000 per year. As long as you don’t exceed this amount, you don’t have to itemize it. 

The amount is transferred directly by the IRA custodian. A retiree who avails of the QCD gets to deduct the donated amount from their taxable income, thus lowering their tax obligation.

With charitable deductions, you don’t have to wait until you’re 70 to start donating. The maximum amount you can donate is 60% of your annual gross income (AGI). Technically, this should reduce your taxes but since it comes from your personal account and not your RMD, the tax benefits are much lower. Moreover, you have to itemize the deductions.

By comparison, RMDs are much simpler to understand and execute.

Paso Pacifico: A QCD-Eligible Nonprofit

Paso Pacifico is a 501(c)(3) certified organization. This means that your donations to us qualify for federal tax exemption. 

By assigning your QCDs to Paso Pacifico, you can help protect and restore the ecosystems of Mesoamerica’s Pacific Slope. This vital region is comprised of endangered eastern Pacific coral reefs, mangrove wetlands, and dry tropical forests. 

We work with partner organizations, landowners, and local communities to preserve the region’s wildlife corridors. As we secure core habitats, we also drive awareness and conservation of endangered animals like cyanoptera macaws, sea turtles, yellow-naped amazon parrots, stingless bees, and more.

Enjoy the benefits of QCDs while protecting biodiversity. Donate to Paso Pacifico.

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Forests are the lungs of our planet and make up 31% of the world’s land area.

They also come in diverse forms, each with unique ecosystems that provide a sanctuary for a large number of birds and animals, many of them endangered. 

They’re also home to more than 80% of terrestrial species and absorb roughly 15.6 billion tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Along the Pacific coast of Central America, these ecosystems face threats. Preserving these natural habitats are at the heart of what we do at Paso Pacifico.

Join our team as we explore the different types of forests in the world and why their conservation is imperative.

Understanding the Different Types of Forests in the World

While forests can be classified by geographical regions, their latitudes and climates are what influence humidity, precipitation, temperature, and wind, ultimately shaping the diversity of the plants and animals that thrive in them.

Based on this distinction, the three main types of forests are:

Boreal Forests 

Also known as taiga, boreal forests are the largest terrestrial pool of biomes. They occupy 17% of the earth’s land area and 27% of the total forest area.

There are two types of boreal forests:

  • Open canopy boreals cover 11% of the land surface area. They have cold and dry climates (45° to 70° latitude), lesser diversity of species, and short growing seasons. 
  • Closed canopy boreals are located at lower altitudes. They have warmer climates, rich diversity of species, a long growing season, and a canopy cover of over 20%.

These forests are found in eight countries, including Sweden, Russia, Canada, and Japan. They act as carbon sinks by storing carbon in tree biomass and soil organic matter.

They are home to 300 species of birds (and over three million migratory birds), 32,000 insect species that act as pollinators and decomposers, and more than 85 species of mammals like elk, moose, wolves, and lemmings. Additionally, they provide a safe habitat to many endangered and threatened species like grizzly bears, northern flying squirrels, polar bears, whooping cranes, wolverines, and woodland caribou.

However, almost 80% of the world’s forests are on top of permafrost which, due to climate change, is thawing at an unnaturally rapid rate. The accelerated thawing poses significant risks, including damage to infrastructure, landslides, ground collapse, geological instability, and rising sea levels.

Tropical Forests 

Found along the equator in regions like Central and South Africa, India, Southeast Asia, and South America, tropical forests cover about 12% of the Earth’s land surface. They are warm throughout the year, and their abundant cloud cover (which extends to over 8,700 yards ) restricts heat loss, preventing temperatures from dropping.

Popular types of tropical forests include:

Tropical forests contain about half of all terrestrial life. They are extremely dense with diverse varieties of flora and fauna. These forests are home to species on the brink of extinction, including the yellow-naped amazon parrot, which is on the IUCN Red List.

Temperate Forests 

Temperate forests are positioned between boreal and tropical forests. They are located at mid-latitudes of around 25° to 50° across North America and Eurasia, covering more than  10.7 trillion square feet. They experience four seasons, receive around 20 to 60 inches of annual precipitation, and support diverse plant growth.

Temperate forests are usually classified into three types:

Temperate forests are home to endangered species like the European mink, Vanzolini’s spiny-chest frog, and the mountain caribou that thrive alongside a wide variety of plants, vegetation, passerine birds, and wildlife thanks to the distinctive seasons.

The Plight of the Most Endangered Forests

Tropical rainforests are one of the most threatened ecosystems as they face immense destruction from logging, deforestation, and agricultural expansion.

Once covering over 14% of the Earth’s land, they now make up only 6% of its surface! And if deforestation continues, they will lose 5% to 10% of their species each decade.

However, tropical dry forests are the most endangered. While they’re known to be resilient, they are no match for the consequences of human interference, climate change and man-made fires designed to clear large forest areas. 

Consequently, they’ve shrunk from 5.9 trillion square feet in the 1500s to 5.2 billion square feet. 

 We now have only 0.09% of the original forested area left. 

The Rich Biodiversity in Rainforests and Dry Forests

Rainforests have the most diverse and complex ecosystems. They contain over half of the animal species in the world. This includes over 5,000 bird species like the curl-crested araçari, harpy eagle, resplendent quetzal, and sun parakeet. 

They’re also home to over 50% of known plant species and hundreds of mammals like anteaters, antelopes, capybaras, elephants, gorillas, jaguars, tigers, and orangutans.

Dry forests, on the other hand, host a range of migratory and aquatic/shore birds. They have an astonishing diversity of trees, most of which are deciduous during the arid season to conserve water. 

They’re home to the black-eared opossum, green iguana, guanay cormorant, northern tamandua , Peruvian booby, Peruvian pelican, roseate spoonbill, Sechuran fox, snowy plover, southern flamingo, the South American sea lion, and the Tumbesian tegu.

Nine out of 25 biodiversity hotspots identified contain dry forest areas. Thanks to dry forests’ climatological conditions,  they are a refuge for thousands of endemic species.

For instance, the Tumbesian region, an area in west Ecuador and northwest Peru, has 58 restricted-range birds. Twenty-three of them are threatened/endangered, like the white-winged guan. That’s why 9 out of 25 biodiversity hotspots identified contain dry forest areas.

Rainforests vs. Dry Forests

Rainforests are characterized by high rainfall, dense vegetation, and unparalleled biodiversity. They’re mostly found in the tropics. These regions receive more direct solar radiation, contain about 25% of the world’s carbon, and help regulate global temperatures.

In contrast, dry forests often endure prolonged droughts, with flora and fauna that have adapted and survived its contrasting extremes. 

They cover around 41.5% of Earth’s land surface. Up to a third of the world’s population lives in and around these areas. Millions of people rely on dry forests for their livelihoods, making their conservation critical.

Types of Forests on the Pacific Coast of Central America

The Pacific coast of Central America has a variety of ecosystems, including coastal forests, tropical forests, mangroves, and cloud forests. These habitats absorb carbon, provide clean water and air, and are home to threatened and endangered animals like tapirs, black-handed spider monkeys, and Cyanoptera macaws.

Sadly, the majority of these forests are under threat from unprecedented wildfires, clearing of land for agriculture, extensive timber harvesting, and other extractive uses of their natural resources.

Paso Pacífico’s Conservation Efforts

Paso Pacífico operates on the Pacific coast of Central America. With initiatives like reforestation projects, preservation of wildlife corridors, and community engagement for sustainable land use, we are dedicated to conserving and restoring critical habitats.

We also work to prevent the extinction of various endemic species like spider monkeys, sea turtles, stingless bees, yellow-naped amazon parrots, jaguars, and migratory birds. Donate today to help us restore habitats and safeguard our future.

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Note from Paso Pacífico: In late 2023, for the first time in several years, we were able to host a group of friends in Central America and show them some of the impact of their support! Andrew Seligman helped plan and then attended the donor trip. We are deeply grateful for Andrew’s help. Thank you also to everyone who participated in this trip and has supported any part of our work for nature and communities.

In late October of 2023, a group of longtime Paso Pacífico supporters became the first donor group to visit our nascent projects in El Salvador.

A Global Beauty Pageant

Upon arrival, we immediately saw signs of the Miss Universe pageant that would be held in the country just days later. Promotion of the pageant was visible most everywhere, but what we soon realized was that the country didn’t need a pageant or even Miss Universe, because its natural beauty is already prize-winning and just needs our investments to secure the biodiversity that graces it.

A Day by Day Trip Account

Once in El Salvador, we experienced a pretty country with super-friendly locals, delicious food and a good road system. Those who arrived early were able to join a tour of San Salvador that included a visit to the tomb of Archbishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated during the civil war in the 1980s. Thankfully, the country is much calmer today.

Monday

Our first day was spent exploring the “Route of the Flowers”, a series of pretty, small towns, each with something different to see. There were markets, murals, museums, and memorials (as well as plenty of things not beginning with ‘M’). This gave us a good background to the culture, politics and recent history of the country.

The day was not without drama: a late-season tropical storm forced the closure of national parks, schools and many government offices, disrupting several plans for the next few days. On this Monday, it meant we were unable to inspect volcanoes close-up but had to be content with distant views. This day involved a lot of road travel, but luckily our group were all experienced travelers and adapted well. Some were relieved to keep a farther distance from the volcanoes!

Tuesday

The next day we visited La Geo. It is one of a number of geothermal plants now supplying over 40% of El Salvador’s energy needs. The organization running the plant also works on many social and economic development projects in the local area. It even houses an animal rescue center where endangered species such as spider monkeys, jaguarundi, macaws, and parrots are rehabilitated and sometimes released back into the wild. We learned about how Paso Pacífico helped bring in wildlife experts to increase the quality of the rescued animals’ care.

Wednesday

Then we headed east to the charming beach town of El Cuco. We spent the day at the beach with the intention of relaxing but when we realized how much plastic pollution had been washed onto the beach by the stormy waves, we spent part of the day doing a beach cleanup. We made a dent in the plastic but also got a view of the tremendous size of the problem.

As the day closed, we traveled to Bongo Experience and its small beach where Paso Pacifico is supporting their young sea turtle conservation efforts. At dusk, we were able to release dozens of newly-hatched olive ridley sea turtles into the ocean. By training a local team about protecting turtle nests and keeping predators at bay, Paso Pacífico increases the baby turtles’ chances of survival. The experience was so uplifting that our group hardly minded when our bus got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled out by a cement mixer!

Thursday

We went inland. Longtime Paso Pacífico associate Don Carmelo, assisted by community ranger Don Ricardo, took us for a hike through Don Ricardo’s property and the surrounding forest to see the splendid views from the mountaintop. He also showed us a disused property which Paso Pacifico is purchasing with the aim of teaching sustainable farming methods to Salvadoran farmers and later, selling produce to hotels and local shops. The farm will initially employ up to ten people to labor in agroforestry and forest restoration.

The recent tropical storm meant we could not visit spider monkeys in the wild, as the roads were impassable. But we did brave the rain to sail on Lake Olomega, home to the indigenous Lenca people. After seeing an ancient petroglyph, we met a Lenca woman who had learned to weave baskets from the invasive water hyacinths that grow on the lake. Her business supports her family and increases income in the village. Paso Pacifico is working to design a program by which more women can participate in the invasive water hyacinth removal and thereby generate revenue for their families through the creation and sale of handicrafts. We were happy to conclude this short visit with the purchase of these handmade baskets to share with friends and family back in the U.S.

Friday

Surf meets science! Our final stop was at El Sunzal, a beach town on a stretch of rocky coast in the La Libertad region. This has become a world-famous surfing spot, and the local surfing community has come together to install a steel-mesh barrier suspended from floats across the mouth of the river. This stops plastics and other trash from reaching the ocean.

Day of Departure

El Salvador is not without its challenges, but there is a deepening sense of ecological awareness which we hope will illuminate developments in the growing agricultural, industrial and tourism sectors. Traveling with Paso Pacifico, we got to see these diverse dimensions.

Photos by Andrew Seligman and Sarah Otterstrom.

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Each holiday season, poinsettias adorn our homes, workplaces, and parties with their vibrant red and green leaves. They are the world’s most economically important potted plant, and our holidays are more joyful thanks to this gift from the forest.

Here are some ways that wild populations of undomesticated poinsettias play a crucial role in protecting both the species, the poinsettia industry, and our holiday season:

Genetic diversity: Wild poinsettias harbor a wider range of genes compared to their domesticated counterparts. This genetic diversity is essential for the species’ long-term survival and adaptability. It allows them to withstand environmental changes, such as diseases, pests, and climate shifts, that could potentially wipe out domesticated varieties with less genetic variation. Wild populations in Mexico and Guatemala are well known by scientists. By preserving additional wild populations (pictured above) in El Salvador, Paso Pacífico and our donors safeguard this valuable genetic reservoir that can be used to breed more resilient and disease-resistant poinsettias for the industry.

Disease resistance: Wild poinsettias have evolved natural defenses against diseases that can devastate cultivated poinsettias. Studying these resistance mechanisms can lead to the development of new pest and disease control methods for the industry, reducing reliance on harmful pesticides and ensuring a more sustainable production system.

Cross-breeding potential: Breeders can introduce valuable traits from wild poinsettias into cultivated varieties through cross-breeding. This can lead to the development of new poinsettia cultivars with improved characteristics, such as disease resistance, cold tolerance, or unique flower colors and shapes. This not only benefits the industry by offering a wider range of products to consumers but also helps diversify the gene pool of cultivated poinsettias, making them more resilient.

Conservation of pollinators: Wild poinsettias provide essential food and habitat for pollinators, such as bees and butterflies. These pollinators are crucial for the reproduction of both wild and cultivated poinsettias. By protecting wild poinsettia populations, we indirectly contribute to the conservation of these vital pollinators, which benefit not only the poinsettia industry but also the entire ecosystem.

Ecological balance: Wild poinsettias play a role in maintaining the ecological balance of their native habitats. They provide food and shelter for animals, help prevent soil erosion, and contribute to nutrient cycling. Protecting these wild populations ensures the health of the ecosystems they inhabit, which can have cascading benefits for the environment and even human well-being.

In conclusion, the most resplendent flowers of our holiday season depend on the dry tropical forest! Wild populations of undomesticated poinsettias act as a valuable insurance policy for both the species and the poinsettia industry. By protecting them, Paso Pacífico donors help safeguard the genetic diversity and natural resilience of poinsettias, promote sustainable production practices, and contribute to the health of the ecosystems they inhabit. This ensures the long-term survival of these beautiful plants so that generations to come can keep enjoying poinsettias at Christmastime.

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by Nicholas Bridgman

At Paso Pacífico, we talk a lot about wildlife corridors like the Paso del Istmo Wildlife Corridor. What is a wildlife corridor?

A wildlife corridor is a network of larger areas of wildlife habitat linked by another passage of habitat. Its goal is to counteract habitat fragmentation, a main cause of biodiversity decline. Fragmentation, such as by human development, leads to smaller and smaller islands being created, so that species become more and more isolated. This leads to a breakdown in ecological processes, since animals cannot travel to food, water, mates, and shelter, and plants cannot disperse their pollen and seeds to their full extent. This results in inbreeding and reduced genetic diversity. 

By connecting habitats, wildlife corridors enable migration, colonization, and interbreeding of plants and animals. Maintaining wildlife corridors as a network across both public and private lands can help mitigate some of the effects of fragmentation and aid landscape conservation efforts.

Corridors help prevent species from becoming endangered and stabilize populations in three main ways. First, they aid colonization, so that animals are able to move to new areas when food or natural resources are absent in their core habitat. Second, they aid migration, so that animals can effectively seasonally relocate. Third, they assist with interbreeding, so that animals can find mates in neighboring regions, which increases genetic diversity and positively impacts the overall population.

Corridors can be categorized according to their width. In general, wider corridors receive more use from species. However, proper construction and other design features, such as width-length ratio, also contribute to effectiveness, reducing suffering from edge effects such as weeds, predators, and chemicals. The main general corridor widths are:

  1. Regional (>500 m wide), connecting major ecological gradients, such as migratory pathways
  2. Sub-regional (>300 m wide), connecting larger vegetated landscape features, such as ridgelines and valley floors
  3. Local (<50 m wide), connecting remnant patches of gullies, wetlands, and ridgelines

Paso Pacífico’s Paso del Istmo falls under the regional corridor width.

The effectiveness of wildlife corridors is generally well-regarded, although more study is needed. There are many cases of birds and butterflies successfully using the corridors, while less successful stories have come from other species such as deer. One reason for this may be that birds are highly migratory to begin with. In the Paso del Istmo, the corridor has helped jaguars to return, and prey species such as lowland pacas, peccaries, and tapirs are recovering. Overall, it can be hard to judge corridors in general, since each one must be observed on its own terms, with its own set of standards and goals, and its own unique mix of species and environmental factors.

The Paso del Istmo Wildlife Corridor

Paso Pacifico has applied the principle of wildlife corridors to the Paso del Istmo, a strip of land in Nicaragua between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean. Deforestation and degradation have occurred here for decades, but even in spite of this, the area retains some of the region’s largest fragments of tropical dry forest. Without the wildlife corridor, plants and animals native to tropical dry forest could not travel north from Costa Rica, and rural farmers would suffer since their rivers would go dry and soils barren, lacking the protection and nutrients that trees and wildlife provide. Creating the corridor has been critical for connecting wildlife habitats and ensuring a healthy environment for local people.

The Paso del Istmo represents what most of the tropical world looks like, no longer virgin forest but rather fragmented habitats that are biologically diverse and need protection. Not surprisingly, Paso Pacífico’s work here translates well to work throughout the area. We first identify a corridor where we plan to work, observing and listening to the greatest needs, both so far as biodiversity and community wellbeing. Next, we identify specific urgent priorities, such as endangered species, degraded watersheds, and isolated habitat. Finally, we put these problems into a local context, enabling us to innovate solutions specific to the community and ecosystem’s needs. These steps can be successfully used in any geographic area, and already we are started work in El Salvador and are planning for other parts of the tropics.

An example of our work in the corridor and beyond is our partnerships with dozens of private landowners who commit their properties for biodiversity conservation. They give up profits that they could otherwise make from agriculture or infrastructure development, instead choosing to help protect the environment by maintaining the corridor. Some projects we have undertaken with their help include protecting almost 500 sea turtle nests, protecting a very rare frog, managing and supporting the growth of thousands of recently planted native trees, and protecting endangered primates. The landowners’ generous commitment helped make building the corridor a success.

What We Could Do in the Future

One main interest is continuing to help facilitate the development of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC), established in 1997 by the governments of eight countries in the Mesoamerican region. The heart of the MBC is a wildlife corridor connecting habitats, but it is also more than that; the MBC is a system of land planning. It consists of four natural areas: core areas, exclusively for ecosystem conservation; buffer zones, areas with restricted use surrounding the core areas; corridor zones, which link habitats and facilitate species’ movement, dispersal, and migration; and multiple use areas, devoted to various activities including agriculture, fisheries, and forest management. The MBC works towards three main goals: maintaining biological diversity, reducing fragmentation, and promoting sustainable production processes that improve the quality of life of local human populations.

The MBC began with a strong focus on protected areas, but it has evolved towards integrating conservation interests with those of economic and rural development. Mesoamerica has over 600 protected areas that cover about one fifth of the area, but they virtually all have significant human populations, oftentimes indigenous. Thus, conservation of green areas requires focus on the needs of local peoples, millions of which depend on MBC-protected areas. The MBC itself also contributes to a culture of peace, bringing together countries in the region and focusing on international cooperation.

Paso Pacifico hopes to scale up its work on the Paso del Istmo to build corridors across Central America for the MBC. Many of the lessons we have learned in Nicaragua would greatly contribute to developing successful corridors throughout the region. For example, when we worked on coastal conservation in the Paso del Istmo, we observed how dwindling shellfish supplies impacted marginalized women who collected oysters. We found that a solution could be developing an oyster cooperative. By empowering local women, we enabled them to practice sustainable fishing and obtain a new economic opportunity, while at the same time enabling us to restore the native shellfish. This practice of observing, identifying priorities, and placing solutions in a local context could aid conservation efforts in corridors throughout Central America. Sustainable conservation practices and wildlife corridors can go hand in hand with providing strong economic opportunities and contributing to human well-being.

References

https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/resources/nature/landholderNotes15WildlifeCorridors.pdf

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/10/081020135221.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildlife_corridor

http://pasopacifico.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2017-Paso-Pacifico-Annual-Report-Web.pdf

https://www.biodiversidad.gob.mx/v_ingles/corridor/mesoamericanCor.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Biological_Corridor

http://www.tbpa.net/page.php?ndx=65

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If you are a supporter of Paso Pacífico, you are already aware of the vital importance of healthy forests to the environment of our whole planet. A large part of our work involves protection of forest habitats and re-forestation projects.

So we were pleased when at the 2021 COP26 climate summit in Scotland, 145 countries pledged to halt and reverse land degradation and forest loss by 2030. (Glasgow Leader’s Declaration).  Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised, but two years on from that, the loss of forests has actually increased, not halted or reversed. Whilst many countries publish fine-sounding aspirations for the environment, their actions reflect a very different agenda. That is why Paso Pacífico has joined over 100 other organizations in petitioning the current COP28 summit in Dubai to establish an oversight mechanism called the Glasgow Declaration Accountability Framework to make signatories accountable for the steps they are taking to protect forests.

You can read the petition at this link

The Natural Resources Defense Council gives more detail at here.

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Press Release: SoftServe and Paso Pacífico to Deliver a Digital Platform for Tropical Forest Restoration

SoftServe supports the non-profit Paso Pacifico to develop a digital platform to slow climate change through tropical forest restoration in Central America. The project has started within Open Tech, SoftServe’s corporate pro bono program, where the company’s associates volunteer to deliver tech solutions for communities.

Carbon emission is one of the primary drivers of climate change on the planet. At the same time, farmers in Central America have unique knowledge and experience in growing forests by using their machetes (knives used for farming) to assist natural regeneration. Named the Machete Project, the new digital platform can help to catalyze this method at scale while enabling innovation and co-creation by local people, gathering farmer expertise, and transferring knowledge to a younger generation.

Paso Pacífico’s executive director, Dr. Sarah Otterstrom says, “Rather than offering a transactional approach to growing trees, the machete project emphasizes an intergenerational connection, community, and knowledge sharing. SoftServe’s talented architects, designers, and business strategists quickly honed in on this project’s unique and holistic nature. The company has also shown its strong commitment to addressing climate change.”

The Machete Project can become a digital force against climate change by catalyzing a social movement around forest restoration. The development stage has started, and the project is expected to roll out in five Latin American countries, including Colombia and Mexico, in the coming year, engaging thousands of farmers and resulting in the growth of hundreds of thousands of trees.

“Open Tech is created to extend SoftServe’s positive impact to communities we work and live in. In 2022, 518 of our associates were volunteering for 40 pro bono projects worldwide, and now we are delighted to join a good cause for Latin America’s locations as well. Besides, designing sustainable it solutions is one of our environmental priorities”, – says Lukasz Popkowski, project manager at SoftServe.

Paso Pacifico’s executive director and Ashoka fellow Dr. Sarah Otterstrom began to design the Machete Project through Ashoka’s ASPIRe program which supports social entrepreneurs in orchestrating impact at scale through societal thinking, an approach well-supported by technological platforms.

About SoftServe

SoftServe is a digital authority that advises and provides cutting-edge technology services.

Employing more than 13,000 associates in 41 centers, offices, and client locations globally, SoftServe is one of the biggest software development companies in Central and Eastern Europe. Headquarters are located in Lviv, Ukraine and Austin, Texas, USA. The company has development centers in Ukraine, Poland, Bulgaria, and started operating in Romania, Mexico, Chile, and Colombia in 2022.

SoftServe has a proven track record in healthcare and life sciences, financial services and insurance, retail, high-tech (ISVs), manufacturing and energy industries. The company is working on more than 900 active projects for clients in Northern America, the EU, and Asia. Among the company’s clients are such giants as IBM, Cisco, Panasonic, Cloudera, Henry Schein, Spillman Technologies, and others. SoftServe is proud to partner with Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, and other well-known tech companies.

The company offers deep expertise across software engineering, cloud and DevOps, big data and analytics, AI and machine learning, the Internet of Things, experience design and platforms, extended reality (XR) and robotics.

SoftServe delivers open innovation—from generating compelling new ideas, to developing and implementing transformational products and services. We empower enterprises and software companies to (re)identify differentiation, accelerate solution development, and vigorously compete in today’s digital economy.

Visit our website, blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter pages.

About Paso Pacifico

Paso Pacifico is a non-profit organization that promotes and implements landscape-scale conservation projects in Central America. The purpose is to build wildlife corridors that protect biodiversity where people already live. By working with local communities, landowners, and partner organizations, we restore and protect the habitats that form building blocks for wildlife corridors. Our organization believes integrated ecosystems, which span from ridge to reef (the mountains to the sea) are key to the successful conservation of the biodiverse natural ecosystems in Central America.

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Osmar Sandino es el coordinador de ciencias marinas para Paso Pacífico.

¿Que es el plástico? La palabra se refiere a un grupo de materiales sintéticos fabricados a partir de hidrocarburos. A nivel mundial se producen más de 400 millones de toneladas cada año.

El principal problema que representa el plástico, deriva de los procesos de empacado y envasado; dichas actividades representan más de un tercio de todos los plásticos fabricados. La mayor porción consiste en productos y empaques de un solo uso. Cifras del Atlas del Plástico reflejan que menos del 10% del total del plástico producido está reciclado1.

Life Is Short: Average useful life of various plastic items, by industrial sector, in years. Packaging: 0.5 years. Consumer products: 3 years. Textiles and others: 5 years. Electrical/electronics: 8 years. Transportation: 13 years. Industrial machinery: 20 years. Building and construction: 35 years.

Gráfico: PLASTIC ATLAS | Appenzeller/Hecher/Sack, CC BY 4.0

A large mount of plastic waste in the middle of a forest clearing in Nicaragua.

Los desechos plásticos son un gran problema en todas partes, incluso en las comunidades rurales de Centroamérica.

La fabricación y uso del plástico acelera el cambio climático. Si se mantienen las tendencias, para el 2050 los plásticos habrán causado alrededor de 56 gigatoneladas de emisiones de CO2. Esto significa que la fabricación de plástico y sus derivados podría usar del 10 al 13% del presupuesto restante de carbono para mantener el calentamiento global bajo los 1.5°C1.

El problema del uso innecesario del plástico impacta los ecosistemas a todos los niveles. El 80% del turismo mundial se hace en las zonas costeras, aumentando en sobre medida la capacidad de carga de estos ecosistemas. Este hecho, además del uso abrumador de plástico por parte de los humanos, significa que botellas, pajillas y bolsas son fáciles de divisar navegando en la marea.

Paso Pacifico coordinator Julie Martinez stands at the seashore raking plastic waste into a pile, 2017. Photo by SetNet Communications.

Los desechos plásticos se desplazan fácilmente hacia las vías fluviales y el océano. Aquí, una guardaparque de Paso Pacífico rastrilla desechos plásticos en una pila durante una limpieza costera. Foto de SetNet Communications.

Otros desechos que están cobrando mayor relevancia en los años más recientes son palillos de hisopos de oídos y microplásticos. Si bien estas formas de plástico son más pequeñas, es poco probable que se descompongan en el océano. Un estudio reciente sobre ensambles microbianos marinos en microplásticos descubrió que las bacterias no pueden descomponer el plástico y que es poco probable que adquieran esta capacidad a través de la evolución. Se estima que, entre 15 y 51 billones de partículas de plástico, con un peso entre 93,000 y 236,000 toneladas, flotan actualmente en la superficie del océano1.

On the Way Down: Potential interference of microplastics with the biological carbon pump. Microplastic pollution may reduce phytoplankton’s ability to fix carbon through photosynthesis, reduce zooplankton’s ability to transport carbon by impairing feeding, survival, or reproductive success. Shallow ocean: 1) CO2 (carbon dioxide) is dissolved at the ocean’s surface. 2) Phytoplankton absorb CO2 and fix the carbon through photosynthesis. 3) Zooplankton eat phytoplankton. 4) Fecal pellets and dead plankton sink. Deep ocean: 5) Carbon sequestered in deep ocean for decades to millennia. Sediment.

Infografía: PLASTIC ATLAS | Appenzeller/Hecher/Sack, CC BY 4.0

De acuerdo a datos publicados por The Nature Conservancy2

  • entre 8-10 millones de toneladas tienen como destino los océanos cada año.
  • se ha medido que el impacto de los desechos plásticos afecta a 530 especies marinas y otros 2,249 organismos marinos interactúan con la basura plástica de alguna manera.
  • 50% del total de este plástico utilizado es desechado luego de un solo uso.

Algunos organismos son más sensibles a la contaminación que otros, ya que su papel en las redes tróficas oceánicas suele reflejar el estado de salud de sitios de alimentación, reproducción.

El resultado de diversos estudios realizados sobre contenidos estomacales en tortugas marinas, refleja que al menos el 52% de su ingesta está constituida de plásticos, lo que debe significar una cifra preocupante acerca del destino de nuestros desperdicios3. El plástico más común encontrado en el tracto de dichas tortugas marinas analizadas corresponde a polietileno (utilizado para el envasado de alimentos)4.De esos estudios se ha concluido que muchos de los tortuguillos nacidos dentro de programas de conservación no alcanzan su etapa reproductiva, debido al alto porcentaje de microplásticos que causan en éstos asfixias u obstrucciones intestinales, teniendo implicaciones devastadoras para las siete especies de tortugas marinas que luchan por sobrevivir3,5. A pesar de los esfuerzos de organizaciones como Paso Pacífico de fomentar proyectos de conservación y reproducción de tortugas marinas, si estas tendencias se siguen agudizando en el tiempo, no habrá a futuro un número suficiente de crías de tortugas marinas que alcancen la madurez sexual para compensar las pérdidas naturales y otras pérdidas asociadas al ser humano.

Stop Ocean Plastic Pollution: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Millions of marine animals are killed each year due to plastic debris in the ocean. Currently, it is estimated that there are 100 million tons of plastic in oceans around the world. Sea turtles and other marine creatures mistake plastic waste as food (such as jellyfish) and ingest it. The plastic get trapped in their stomach, which prevents them from properly swallowing food. This mistake causes blockages within their digestive system and eventual death. All species of sea turtles are affected by marine debris. Juvenile green turtles are heavily affected by marine debris. Sea turtles eating plastic bag. Love Earth.

Infografía: Shutterstock

En general el reciclaje de plásticos juega un papel menor en la mitigación de los impactos dañinos del plástico en el medio ambiente y la biodiversidad. Actualmente solo existe una forma de reciclaje a través de un circuito abierto. Cada vez que se recicla una pieza de plástico, su calidad se degrada y solo se puede reciclar un cierto número de veces antes de terminar en el relleno sanitario o el incinerador. En este proceso se emiten dioxinas y metales como el mercurio, el plomo y el cadmio que afectan particularmente a las personas y comunidades cercanas, pero también pueden depositarse en el suelo y agua a grandes distancias1.

Una nueva generación de plásticos, a partir de biopolímeros tales como la fécula de maíz, es factible. Por ejemplo, un proceso de producción novedoso ha hecho modificar la quitina en los cascarones de camarón y otros crustáceos para fabricar un polímero biodegradable llamado quitosano o chitosán1. El problema de estos llamados “bioplásticos” es que las materias primas de las cuales se producen-como la caña de azúcar-conlleva el uso considerable de pesticidas, los cuales tienen fuertes impactos en los ecosistemas y la salud humana1.

A Paso Pacífico ranger carries a filled black garbage bag across a pristine tropical beach in Nicaragua. Photo by Matt Dolkas.

Los guardaparques de Paso Pacífico lideran con el ejemplo a través de la limpieza del plástico. Foto de Matt Dolkas.

Los cambios nunca llegan tarde. Reflejo de ello es la iniciativa conjunta entre Paso Pacífico y The Ocean Conservancy, las cuales a través del programa Ocean Cleanup ha involucrado a casi 300 personas (185 de ellos niños del programa Guardaparques Junior) en la limpieza de 20 km de línea costera en el Pacífico de Nicaragua. Desde agosto hasta noviembre 2019, 11 playas de nuestros alrededores han sido limpiadas (Playas Brasilón, Hollman, El Roble, Guacalito, El Coco, Escamequita, Ostional, Pochote, Las Playitas, Arrancabarba y Manzanillo), recolectando 1,208 libras de desperdicios (incluyendo plástico, vidrio, cartón y colillas de cigarrillos). Dichas actividades han tenido una participación activa de los comunitarios que habitan en el Corredor Biológico Paso del Istmo, además de la realización de más de 13 talleres relacionados al reciclaje, la huella ecológica y otros temas de educación ambiental.

De este modo, Paso Pacífico pretende ratificar su compromiso social y ecológico para heredar un planeta azul en mejores condiciones para las generaciones venideras. Por ello a través de nuestros programas tratamos de acercar la ciencia desde los más pequeños hasta a los adultos mayores fomentando estrategias para proteger nuestras playas y costas.

Junior Rangers participate in one of our International Coastal Cleanup events. Photo from Anabel Chévez.

Guardaparques Junior y miembros de la comunidad participan en uno de nuestros eventos de la Limpieza Costera Internacional.

Ya bien lo decía Cousteau, “Somos agua de mar organizada”.

Para más información y material educativo, organizaciones como Plastic Bank a través de su web ha puesto a disposición un método para calcular nuestra huella de plástico, y como fomentar mejores hábitos de consumo para beneficio de nuestro planeta.

Referencias

  1. Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung El Salvador / Break Free From Plastic. Atlas del Plástico, Datos y cifras sobre el mundo de los polímeros sintéticos. 2019. Ediciones Böll.
  2. The Nature Cosnervancy. 2020. Let’s Stop the Flow of Plastic Waste. Retrieved July 27th 2020, from bit.ly/plasticTNC
  3. Schuyler, Q., Hardesty, B.D., Wilcox, C. and Townsend, K. 2014, Global Analysis of Anthropogenic Debris Ingestion by Sea Turtles. Conservation Biology, 28: 129-139. https://doi:10.1111/cobi.12126
  4. White, E. M., Clark, S., Manire, C. A., Crawford, B., Wang, S., Locklin, J., & Ritchie, B. W. 2018. Ingested micronizing plastic particle compositions and size distributions within stranded post-hatchling sea turtles. Environmental science & technology, 52(18), 10307-10316
  5. Wilcox, C., Puckridge, M., Schuyler, Q.A. et al. 2018. A quantitative analysis linking sea turtle mortality and plastic debris ingestion. Sci Rep 8, 12536 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30038-z

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By Latoya Abulu for Mongabay

The idea of a “pristine wilderness” in conservation efforts — a natural zone free of people — is an erroneous construct that doesn’t reflect the reality of how many high-value biodiverse landscapes have operated for millennia, a new study says. In fact, enforcing this concept can cause environmental degradation of these areas when their human inhabitants, such as Indigenous peoples and local communities who have adapted to living sustainably in these zones, are displaced from them, the study says.

In their paper published Oct. 5, 2021, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the authors make the case that a “pristine wilderness” where rich biodiverse forests continue to thrive without humans present is a Eurocentric construct. It emerged during the Enlightenment period in the West and was later imposed on Indigenous peoples and local communities the world over as they were displaced from their ancestral lands. This idea gained particular traction during European colonial and conservation efforts in the 19th and 20th centuries across the Americas, Africa, Asia Pacific and Australia, and may be experiencing a particular resurgence today among large international conservation organizations, philanthropists, foundations, and certain governments.

Wildlife rangers in Cambodia. Image courtesy of Rhett Butler/Mongabay.

A high-profile case that may be giving renewed salience to this idea is the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework’s draft target 3, which highlights the importance of preserving at least 30% of Earth’s land and ocean by the year 2030. Historically such territorial preservation has been achieved by establishing exclusionary conservation areas, notably national parks. Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars and human rights organizations say the creation of such conservation areas will lead to the continued displacement and abuse of Indigenous peoples and local communities if it’s framed in the Eurocentric concept of creating a “pristine wilderness,” a system also dubbed “fortress conservation,” where human inhabitants are seen as a liability.

“Fortress conservation is motivated by the mistaken belief that successful conservation outcomes require ‘pristine wilderness’ free from human inhabitants,” David R. Boyd, the U.N.’s special rapporteur on human rights and the environment, writes in his policy brief on the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

“Mounting evidence confirms that Indigenous Peoples and other rural rights holders possess the knowledge and ability necessary to successfully conserve and manage biodiverse ecosystems more effectively than governments and at a fraction of the cost, particularly where their rights are recognized, respected and supported.”

Separating humans from nature

The idea that natural wilderness areas should be sanitized of any kind of human presence stems from the Enlightenment theory that sought to release humankind from the binds of religion and other subjective cultural influences, and showcase an objective human isolated from the surrounding world. In doing so, however, this process created a whole new “religious” idea of human beings as separate from nature, while its exclusion of other beliefs narrowed the possibilities and solutions that could be used to address our environmental crises — notably Indigenous traditional knowledge.

The result is the now familiar binary of humans versus wilderness, with the former seen as a civilized entity and the latter, an untamed, primitive, wild space. As this concept evolved over the centuries, it fed the notion that humans could tame and conquer nature — and, by extension, “uncivilized” Indigenous peoples — without any adverse impacts on the humans that were tied to it.

For the authors of the new study, the underlining issue is that, at its core, this construct isn’t in touch with the reality of how many ecosystems operate and how high-value biodiverse landscapes are continuously preserved by human stewardship.

Certain ecosystems as “historical products”

Tropical forests, such as the Amazon, are often showcased as the last key biodiversity hotspots that were in place prior to human contact. However, more than half of the spatial landscape of the Amazon has seen and lived along with human activity over the last 10,000 years, to the extent that the region is shaped by it.

The forests are the center of the domestication of more than 80 crop species, such as cassava (Manihot esculenta), wild rice (Oryza spp.), peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), and chili (Capsicum baccatum). Agroforestry and the cultivation of maize began around 6,300 years ago and intensified more than 1,000 years later. This domestication and cultivation actively produced human-generated organic soils called Amazonian dark earth that now extend across a significant part of the Amazon and support the “distinct human-modified forests” and their diversity.

“This has influenced forest composition to such an extent that much of the forest is disproportionately rich in domesticated species,” the paper says.

Agroforestry cultivation practices, called chagra by Indigenous communities such as the Nonuya, Andoque and Ceima Chacivera in the northwestern Colombian Amazon, have been shown to lead to “diverse and highly dynamic landscapes” that are largely in line with forest cover thresholds set by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the Kyoto Protocol.

Maps detail how much of the “wild” hotspots of the Amazon are actually the ancestral territories of Indigenous communities that have lived, hunted, gathered and cultivated there for millennia. Most areas that aren’t Indigenous territories are areas containing either the predicted human-generated soils, domesticated plants, or earthworks.

In the case of another biodiversity hotspot, Southeast Asia and New Guinea, humans have been hunting and using horticulture techniques, such as swidden, for more than 40,000 years. A technique of rotational agriculture used sustainably in the highlands, it requires clearing a strip of forest by cutting down trees and burning them to have land to cultivate for a short period. The land is then returned to the forests as the farmers shift to another strip of land.

Sustainable swidden agriculture is often lumped together with the encroachment of farms on forests, giving it the name “slash and burn.” Certain large conservation organizations and the REDD+ program see it as “incompatible with nature and conservation” or having degraded the “pristine ecology of tropical forests.”

However, today, swidden agriculture supports more than 14 million highlanders in the Southeast Asia and New Guinea region, and paleo-ecological research has demonstrated how it may increase landscape-scale biodiversity and forest resilience to climate change.

“Despite long being cultivated, these highland zones capture some of the most biologically, linguistically, and culturally diverse zones on earth,” the paper says.

Ecological functions performed by people

Removing humans from these zones that they have co-evolved with and shaped may degrade the ecosystem’s health by removing the human drivers they have come to depend on. A case study focuses on what occurred in Australia from the 1960s to the 1980s. After displacing the Aboriginal inhabitants, who consist of the world’s oldest continuous culture, from the tropical deserts, savanna and forests around the western deserts, uncontrolled wildfires and an erosion of the region’s biodiversity ensued.

According to researchers, the culprit was the lack of humans to perform low-intensity patch burning and hunting. Patch burning diminishes the intensity and destruction of wildfires on flora and fauna through controlled burns, while hunting balances species’ populations. The lack of patch burning in the region helped precipitate the decline and endangerment of many species in the western deserts, including keystone species such as the sand monitor lizard (Varanus gouldii).

“Long-term, multidisciplinary data from all three biomes indicate the long, continuing legacies of humans in shaping these supposedly ‘wild’ landscapes, ranging from food tree manipulation in the Australian Wet Tropics, to the construction of place-based societies across the Western Deserts,” the paper says.

Aboriginal notions imagine a “pristine wilderness” to be one that is, in fact, ecologically degraded without the presence of humans. This illustrates how the concept of “fortress conservation” doesn’t take into account the environmental necessities of various different ecosystems to maintain their integrity.

The co-evolution between people and place, between managed forests and the cultural, spiritual and economic needs of Indigenous peoples and local communities, occurred over millennia. Displacing humans from their lands to create “pristine” conservation areas not only entails human rights violations and social conflicts over territory, but may erode the biodiversity of ecosystems that co-exist with human intervention while impeding conservation efforts by ignoring Indigenous traditional knowledge of forest management.

Boyd, the U.N. special rapporteur, highlights multiple recommendations for the post-2020 global biodiversity targets to avoid continuing on the same failing conservation path of separating humans from nature, and encourages embarking on a transformative path that puts rights-based approaches at the heart of biodiversity conservation.

“Accelerated efforts to expand protected areas have proven insufficient to stop or even slow the tidal wave of environmental destruction sweeping the planet,” Boyd says. “Indigenous Peoples and other rural rights holders who successfully steward vast portions of the world’s biodiversity [are] vital conservation partners whose human, land, and resource rights must be recognized and respected if biodiversity loss is to be stopped and reversed.”

Citations

Fletcher, M., Hamilton, R., Dressler, W., & Palmer, L. (2021). Indigenous knowledge and the shackles of wilderness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(40), e2022218118. doi:10.1073/pnas.2022218118

Oldekop, J. A., Holmes, G., Harris, W. E., & Evans, K. L. (2015). A global assessment of the social and conservation outcomes of protected areas. Conservation Biology, 30(1), 133-141. doi:10.1111/cobi.12568

Iriarte, J., Elliott, S., Maezumi, S. Y., Alves, D., Gonda, R., Robinson, M., … Handley, J. (2020). The origins of Amazonian landscapes: Plant cultivation, domestication and the spread of food production in tropical South America. Quaternary Science Reviews, 248, 106582. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2020.106582

Piperno, D. R. (2011). The origins of plant cultivation and domestication in the New World tropics. Current Anthropology, 52(S4), S453-S470. doi:10.1086/659998

Bush, M., Correa-Metrio, A., McMichael, C., Sully, S., Shadik, C., Valencia, B., … Overpeck, J. (2016). A 6900-year history of landscape modification by humans in lowland Amazonia. Quaternary Science Reviews, 141, 52-64. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2016.03.022

McMichael, C. H., Piperno, D. R., Neves, E. G., Bush, M. B., Almeida, F. O., Mongeló, G., & Eyjolfsdottir, M. B. (2015). Phytolith assemblages along a gradient of ancient human disturbance in western Amazonia. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 3. doi:10.3389/fevo.2015.00141

Barker, G., Barton, H., Bird, M., Daly, P., Datan, I., Dykes, A., … Turney, C. (2007). The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: The antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution, 52(3), 243-261. doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2006.08.011

Mertz, O., Leisz, S. J., Heinimann, A., Rerkasem, K., Thiha, Dressler, W., … Potter, L. (2009). Who counts? Demography of swidden cultivators in Southeast Asia. Human Ecology, 37(3), 281-289. doi:10.1007/s10745-009-9249-y

Bliege Bird, R., Bird, D. W., Fernandez, L. E., Taylor, N., Taylor, W., & Nimmo, D. (2018). Aboriginal burning promotes fine-scale pyrodiversity and native predators in Australia’s Western Desert. Biological Conservation, 219, 110-118. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2018.01.008

Crabtree, S. A., Bird, D. W., & Bliege Bird, R. (2019). Subsistence transitions and the simplification of ecological networks in the Western Desert of Australia. Human Ecology, 47(2), 165-177. doi:10.1007/s10745-019-0053-z

Bliege Bird, R., Tayor, N., Codding, B. F., & Bird, D. W. (2013). Niche construction and dreaming logic: Aboriginal patch mosaic burning and varanid lizards (Varanus gouldii) in Australia. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1772), 20132297. doi:10.1098/rspb.2013.2297

Banner image: Indigenous Tikuna man in the Amazon rainforest. Under a human rights-based framework, communities on the ground would take a leading role in biodiversity protection, with outside conservation projects or initiatives structured as an equal partnership rather than an imposition. Image by Rhett A. Butler/Mongabay.

Republished from Mongabay with permission under a CC BY-ND 4.0 license.

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Since the beginning of the pandemic, news outlets have reported on investigators’ efforts to pinpoint the “ground zero” of the COVID-19 virus. The question seemingly not under media scrutiny, however, is how we may be able to prevent such outbreaks of disease from occurring in the future. Although many think of vaccines as the best way to prevent disease, the best preventive medicine may in fact be maintaining tropical rainforest biodiversity and practicing forest conservation.

Deforestation and Wildlife Trafficking Spread Viral Diseases to Humans

As of 2021, zoonotic diseases—viruses that are transmissible from animals to humans—accounted for no less than 70% of emerging viral diseases. Such pathogens, some of which can spread to the point of pandemic, are chiefly spread by the following factors:

  • Destruction of tropical forests and lost habitats, which can drive wildlife into human-populated areas, increasing animal-human encounters
  • Lack of biodiversity caused by deforestation. This leads to the extinction of many species, and those that survive are more likely to be carriers of zoonotic diseases
  • Expansion of agricultural lands, particularly near human settlements, and livestock operations in these areas
  • Wildlife hunting and trade, which intensifies the frequency of animal-human contact, especially in unhygienic meat and animal markets
  • Rapid or poorly planned urbanization, which also results in lost wildlife habitats and drives animals into human-populated areas
  • Climate change, which causes wildlife to migrate in search of more hospitable habitats, bringing pathogens to new regions

Strategies for Protecting Tropical Forests and Preventing Disease Outbreaks

There are multiple strategies that can be taken to help prevent widespread viral infections. In low-income countries, one solution is to improve human health education and care systems in tandem with conservation education and efforts.

Another strategy is to monitor and reduce legal wildlife trade and eradicate illegal animal markets. Education can play a significant role as well: the more buyers are aware of how zoonotic diseases are spread, the weaker such markets may become.

Perhaps the most important step is to support policies that reduce deforestation and wildlife habitat loss. This is important both for existing intact forests and those that have become fragmented. Doing so can not only help prevent future pandemics, but slow climate change as well. 

Help Prevent Future Pandemics by Supporting Conservation Organizations  

At Paso Pacífico, our mission is to create wildlife corridors that safeguard biodiversity while connecting people to their land and ocean. Our goal is to restore and conserve Mesoamerica’s Pacific Slope ecosystems. The threatened mangrove wetlands, dry tropical forests, and eastern Pacific coral reefs are among these ecosystems.

All conservation programs at Paso Pacífico benefit directly from your donations. These include education programs that teach children the principles of biology, ecology, and environmental citizenship. Contact us today!   

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