How Latin America can lead on climate, biodiversity & the circular economy

Vincent Gitz. Photo by Ricky Martin/CIFOR-ICRAF

Vincent Gitz–forest engineer, natural resources scientist, and economist—brings a rich and varied background to his new role at the Centre for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) office for Latin America in Lima, Peru. 

With extensive experience in research, policymaking, and at the interface between science and decisionmaking, Gitz has led significant initiatives, including coordinating the FAO’s High-level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), and the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees, and Agroforestry (FTA). His move to Peru aims to bolster the scientific teams in both Peru and Brazil. 

In the following interview, Gitz highlights the contrast between Latin America’s abundant resources and potential and its relatively low level of support from official development assistance (ODA) compared to other regions and shares perspectives about the path of the organization in Latin America.

Q: What opportunities do trees, forests, and nature-based solutions present for Latin America?

A: Latin America is a highly diverse continent where forests and trees could play a key role in determining whether the region and its countries are on a sustainable development path. The forest area is vast—46.5% of total land area in 2020—but decreasing. About 26% of the Amazon is in a state of advanced disturbance, including forest degradation, deforestation, and habitat loss. And, despite covering just 13% of the world’s surface, Latin America has contributed to 25% of global land-use change emissions over the last decade.

The region has the highest share of protected forests (31% compared to the global average of 18%) but the lowest percentage (18%) under long-term management plans. Socially, about a third of the population lives below the poverty line (201 million people), facing issues of unequal access to nutrition, food, and significant income inequality. The Indigenous population in Latin America and the Caribbean is substantial—close to 60 million people—with 3-7 million of these people living within forests. It is also a crucial region for global agriculture, despite not being a primary target for ODA, which prioritizes Africa and, to a lesser extent, Asia.

Q: How did you first get involved with Latin American issues?

A: Twenty years ago, as a research coordinator at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), I was tasked with co-developing integrated assessment models with partners in the Global South, which are used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to explore the consequences of economic and land-use scenarios in terms of GHG emissions. 

At the time, these models were predominantly built in the Global North, which posed problems for their relevance in terms of accurately representing the economics, land use, and production systems in the South. This led our team to join forces with the energy planning program (PPE) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, to co-develop the IMACLIM-R model, which is still in use and co-owned by the two institutions.

That philosophy of co-ownership and co-development with national partners in the Global South is something that we at CIFOR-ICRAF fully embrace, as it is key to the legitimacy, credibility, and effectiveness of our actions.

Q: You led the world’s largest research programme on forests, trees, and agroforestry. How did your research journey in that field begin?

A: I began my research journey in the field of the economics and science of climate change, forests, and land use, exploring where and when to best make use of forests and plantations to remove carbon from the atmosphere. I progressively moved to agriculture and food security issues, first working in policy as an advisor to the French Minister of Agriculture, then several years in FAO for the HLPE and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and then back in France in charge of the national food programme. 

Then, in 2017, I returned to forests and land-use research for development. This type of research, conducted in institutions like CIFOR-ICRAF, is not just about publishing papers to advance knowledge, but very much about developing applicable, workable, and scalable solutions for actors, decision-makers, and people on the ground.

Q: What are the main topics your research focuses on?

A: I am interested in two main aspects: identifying key policy gaps that impede sustainable development in our sectors, and connecting finance and the private sector to what we do. These two aspects are complementary: we often have the right technical solutions, but the bottleneck is the enabling environment. We aim to help governments set the right policies and incentives, and make the right investments, to enhance and fully leverage the roles and contributions of forests and trees in landscapes and along their value chains to address a range of complex challenges.

I’m particularly interested in issues surrounding the development of the bio-circular economy. It offers opportunities to create an economy that values standing forests, diverse plantations, and the incredible biodiversity of trees used in agriculture, benefiting local populations. If successful, the bio-circular economy approach will exemplify how to synergize economic development with biodiversity conservation, environmental stewardship, and the agency of local communities.

Q: With CIFOR and ICRAF now unified, what can the organization contribute to the region’s sustainable development pathway?

A: We are in the process of updating our regional strategy in line with CIFOR-ICRAF’s global 2030 strategy and the specific needs of the region. Latin America has unique challenges and must play a crucial role in a global organization like CIFOR-ICRAF, which seeks to support its Latin American countries and partners and build a strong South-South agenda. 

The region has a relatively mature environment where both technical innovations and policy advancements can be tested and scaled. The role of sub-national jurisdictions in advancing sustainability is particularly important in Latin America and can set an example worldwide, as exemplified by the leading role that Peruvian, Brazilian, and Bolivian subnational jurisdictions play in the Governors’ Climate and Forests (GCF) Task Force.

We are well-equipped to support the development and co-creation of nature-based solutions. This includes promoting the bioeconomy and its diversity and richness, developing agroforestry and agroecology in productive areas, and helping conserve pristine ecosystems, especially by creating a tree and forest-rich economy within buffer zones around protected areas. In many ways, Latin America can set an example of how to make climate and biodiversity work for the economy—and vice versa.

Q: What’s next for the organization in the region?

A: We are expanding our portfolio and have defined three goals for our work with our partners in the region:

1. Help stabilize the forest frontier in the Amazon through projects at the forest-farm interface, aiming to secure tenure, develop adapted technical models and rural advisory services and tools for agroforestry development, and create economic opportunities for smallholders.
2. Support the development of sustainable value chains in the region that contribute to reducing deforestation (including zero-deforestation value chains) and forest degradation and improving sustainable land and forest management.
3. Assist countries and actors in the region in mobilizing the potential of nature-based solutions for climate action (adaptation and mitigation), restoration, biodiversity conservation, and other co-benefits, with an emphasis on safeguards, social inclusion, and rights-based approaches, especially for Indigenous Peoples and local communities, and women in these groups.

We currently have a presence in both Brazil and Peru, but also aim to build on this to support other countries and a wider range of actors across Latin America.