Sacred plant helps forge a climate-friendly future in Paraguay

A woman in the field holding up a vegtable

FAO/Cristian Palacios

Sacred plant helps forge a climate-friendly future in Paraguay

15 February 2024 Climate and Environment

For generations, Ariel Benitez's ancestors, the Ava Guaran�� people, one of the Indigenous Peoples living in eastern Paraguay, have been harvesting the green leaves of the yerba mate tree to make the bitter, caffeinated brew beloved in South America and beyond. But what's changed is that the leaves they traditionally harvested in the wild have become increasingly scarce, partly as a result of climate change. So Ariel and his fellow members of the community, based in Ka'atymiri San Francisco, about 230 kilometres from the capital Asuncion, are now cultivating seedlings to grow the crop.

They've planted more than 1 500 of them in combination with several other species of native trees, which are important for both the local ecosystem and as traditional sources of food and medicines.

"They [the trees] are adapting and growing very well. You can tell that they are in a land that is familiar to them," says Ariel.

It's all part of the "Poverty, Reforestation, Energy and Climate Change" (PROEZA) project, implemented by the Government of Paraguay with the support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

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