I am a full-time volunteer for the Inga Foundation which implements the Inga Tree Model/Inga alley-cropping--now in year 13. It is an
award-winning NGO pilot in rural Honduras–a grassroots agricultural solution to the shifting agriculture of clearing/burning of tropical rainforests. The ability of the nitrogen-fixing, climate-resilient Inga to stabilize/regenerate/enrich depleted soil dramatically transforms the lives of subsistence farmers in the tropics by providing 100% food security/organic cash crops, significantly reducing carbon emissions, protecting wildlife and marine habitats, and preserving water sources. 500 smallholder families have planted over 2 million native trees in hedgerow configuration--sequestering/avoiding over 846,000 tons of CO2 and regenerating over 4000 ha of steep, degraded land. This low-input, debt-free, and bottom-up approach survives the worst climate shocks, and regenerates highly degraded land while fulfilling 12 of the 17 UN SDGs with no negative impacts whatsoever.
The pilot serves as a successful Model of organic, regenerative agroforestry that may be replicated to the entire humid tropics. Our carbon Model has been extensively reviewed and we have facilitated native Inga alleys in 15 countries.
Our most recent evaluation was made by IUCN where we were ranked as the #1 terrestrial system for Honduras:
A 2019 evaluation of programs in Honduras by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Tony Nello et. al ranks Inga alley-cropping systems with basic grains (sistema callejones con granos basicos) first in both ten and thirty year models. This evaluation compares various approaches to landscape restoration based on financial, environmental, and social criteria, and in a cost-benefit analysis, Inga alley-cropping ranks number one. The evaluation notes Inga alley-cropping as a top system for re-greening landscapes and providing exceptional benefits such as increased food production, erosion control, and cost and availability. https://portals.iucn.org/library/node/48381
Most recent publication-https://www.tropenbos.org/resources/publications/inga+tree+agroforestry+in+honduras
3-minute film on the Inga Tree Model
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDxosBxeR_o
