Livestock based agriculture is both a large source of emissions and critical source of income for Colombia, with investments in silvopastoral systems being a critical pathway for reducing emissions while sustaining this vital income source.

Nature-based Intervention:

The project worked with 4,100 farms across the country in order to facilitate the conversion of 38,000 ha of degraded cattle pastures into silvopastoral systems. Silvopastoral systems are those that involve planting trees, shrubs and fodder crops on grazing land in ways that increase and preserve tree cover, enhance carbon dioxide sequestration, improve biodiversity and soil quality, and increase livestock productivity. In this case the intervention targeted rural cattle ranchers and hoped to increase habitat connectivity within the landscape. In this national program the additonal money provided by the United Kingdom was able to set up a payment for ecosystem services scheme which compensated farmers for the additonal carbon captured on their lands as part of the silvopastoral system. The funding was also able to support farmers through technical assistance and information exchange. This included setting up demonstration farms and subsidizing the cost of seedlings, trees and organic fertilisers in order to facilitate the adoption of silvopastoral systems.

Overview of context and outcomes:

In Colombia the agricultural sector produces 38% of the countries greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time cattle ranching employs 28% of the rural populations, making it critical to the livelihoods of these communities. Poor farmers in rural communities are also especially vulnerable to climate change risks, making their income sources potentially unstable. The outcomes of this intervention caused the doubling of the sustainable livestock target in the 2018-2022 Colombian National Development Plan.