The challenge: deforestation

Nicaragua is the poorest country in Central America and the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere after Haiti. 40% of the population lives below the poverty line. Unemployment is at 39% and underemployment is at 46.5% (2008).

The poor depend on forest resources to maintain their wellbeing and generate income. Forests provide a source of free goods like food, fuel, forage and building materials. Forests also provide fertile agricultural land and fresh water, among other things.^[1] Unfortunately this creates a vicious cycle. Without proper management or alternative sources of income or resources, the needs of the rural poor place enormous pressure upon forests.

Additionally many of the best lands are owned by the wealthy, so the poor are forced into surrounding hillsides and forests, slashing and burning areas for sustenance farming. Without suitable planning, the quality of agricultural land is depleted and the farmers are forced to move to new areas.

Within the entire municipality of San Juan de Limay, 95.5% of the population uses wood for cooking. In rural areas, this percentage increases to 99.2%.

This dependence on fuelwood for cooking puts continuous pressure on surrounding forest resources, as next to none of fuelwood is sustainably produced.

Although collecting fuelwood doesn’t directly lead to deforestation, only forest degradation, areas that have already been logged illegally are more affected by continual fuelwood harvesting and often these areas end up deforested much faster.^[2]

For decades, logging companies destroyed huge stretches of Nicaraguan forest for export, profiting only the elites.^[3] Yet the inaccessibility of remaining forested areas, the infrequency of same-species tree groves and inefficient transportation options, has caused the legal lumber industry to decline. Government restrictions placed in 2006 created a logging ban and moratorium on timber exports, in order to preserve remaining stock. In just one year following the ban, Nicaragua’s exports of cut timber fell 93%.^[4]

Since then deforestation has slowed, but illegal logging is still very prevalent due to the high value of specific tree species, particularly hardwoods.^[5]

One of the primary causes of deforestation is agriculture, and mainly commercial agriculture where large tracts of forest are cleared to make way for cash crops, including tobacco, cotton, bananas, coffee, sugar and beef.^[6]

60% of Nicaragua’s total exports are based on commercial agriculture, with an annual yield of approximately USD $300 million.^[7]

Coffee became the most predominant crop in the 1990s, serving as the nation’s leading export in terms of value. Much of this coffee comes from the northern regions of the country, including around the town of Estelí.^[8]

Vast areas of forest were cut down during the cotton boom in the 1960s and 1970s.^[9] Commercial cotton production peaked during the 1970s, covering 463,000 hectares (or about 648 000 soccer fields) of land at that time. However, the production drove farmers to use high amounts of pesticides, making production too costly and led to high levels of cancer and infertility among the farmers. The pesticides contaminated waterways and fish stocks leaving behind vast areas of polluted, deforested land. Since then, the industry declined to one-fifth its size within just a decade.^[10]

Throughout Nicaragua in the 1960s and 1970s, around 75% of forests were converted into cattle pastures.^[11] As a result of the declining beef industry, much of this land has since become rolling grassland.^[12] Without human spurred reforestation activities it will take centuries for these grasslands to be reconverted into forests naturally.

In the area of San Juan de Limay, the predominant land-use is still cattle grazing. Due to the lengthy dry season and sparse vegetation, cattle ranchers must clear large areas of forest. It takes approximately 1.4 hectares (around two soccer fields) to support just one cow.

Changes in government throughout Nicaragua’s recent history has lead to frequent and drastic land reforms. In 1979, the Sandinista National Liberation Front overthrew the Somoza dynasty and “the government implemented environmental protection laws, established national parks, began reforestation programs, and banned many dangerous pesticides.”^[13] The Sandinistas also implemented an unprecedented land reform, giving over 5 million acres to more than half of the country’s poor.

“The rate of deforestation of Nicaragua’s tropical rainforests dropped from about 100,000 hectares per year in the late 1970s—the highest rate in the region—to 50,200 hectares by 1985—one of [Central America]‘s lowest rates.”^[14]

Yet the war between the Sandinistas and their opposition, the American military-backed Contras, continued until 1990, when the Sandinistas were defeated and much of the forested areas were redistributed to former Contras and government soldiers.

International financial institutions, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have placed strict measures on the Nicaraguan government while it pays back external debts. As a result, the government has had to cut back on spending, including huge slashes to environmental programs and law enforcement.^[15]

Open-pit mines such as the ones in the watershed surrounding San Juan de Limay pose a great threat to human health and to Nicaragua’s environment,^[16] including deforestation and water pollution. To make matters worse, the wealth generated by mining activities does not reach the workers or surrounding communities, contrary to promises from the mining companies.

Without the deep roots of trees help hold the soil in place, deforested areas are more susceptible to soil erosion and landslides. As a result, heavy rains and tropical storms cause serious damage, washing soil down to lower areas and into communities at the foot of the mountains^[17] such as San Juan de Limay’s urban center.

Deforested land can no longer stand up to the power of natural disasters such as hurricanes, landslides and floods in the way that forested areas can.^[18] Forest degradation from illegal logging played a big role in the excessive damage caused by Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Aerial surveys indicated that vegetated hillside experienced far fewer mudslides and devastation than deforested agricultural land or human settlements.^[19]

Deforestation has significant impacts on the water cycle. Forests play a crucial role in preventing the excess absorption of water into the soil and in returning moisture into the atmosphere through the process of transpiration. Without this natural process, much rainwater runs off into nearby waterways delaying its return to the atmosphere. This results in lower and erratic rainfall and droughts.^[20]

Deforestation and the loss of habitats, especially in tropical countries, have a serious impact on biodiversity. 70% of the Earths’ land animals and plants live in forests,^[21] with tropical forests being the most biologically diverse.^[22]

Without the protective layer of the forest canopy to block sunrays during the day and hold in heat at night, the climate experiences much greater swings in temperature, which is harmful for plants and animals.^[23]

Soil erosion from deforestation also leads to the loss of cultivable land. Without proper land-use management, deforested areas quickly become void of nutrients and water and are no longer valuable for growing crops or rising cattle.

Unpredictable and decreased rainfall due to deforestation can easily lead to drought. This in turn affects irrigation, agricultural output and carrying capacity for livestock. Particularly for subsistence farmers who depend on their land for food, this can lead to malnutrition, starvation, diseases and even death.

Since trees play a role in regulating the amount of water in the soil and atmosphere, loss of forested mountainsides leads to a decrease in precipitation and water supply for lowland communities.²⁴

Poor growing conditions due to many years of environmental degradation and a lack of funding opportunities to buy farming equipment means that agricultural activities generate little income for rural farmers, if any.