Catona Climate and NatureRe Join Forces to Restore 60,000 Hectares in Colombia
Catona Climate, a climate finance company, and NatureRe join forces to restore around 60,000 hectares of degraded lands in Antioquia, Colombia. The initiative seeks to revive degraded ecosystems that have been in decline for decades due to cattle ranching through Assisted Natural Regeneration and novel techniques.
Project Aims and Techniques
The ANR utilizes the above intervention to deal with issues such as invasive plant species, poor land use practices, and overgrazing. This process promotes the growth of native plants while at the same time controlling grazing and harmful grasses to restore ecological balance. ANR allows the degraded area to recover naturally by promoting conditions that support the regrowth of native vegetation.
Apart from land restoration, it aims to increase biodiversity, improve water quality, and lower fire risk. In these goals, it is well within the country’s significant ecological value: Colombia ranked as one of the most biodiverse countries in the world, and it urgently faces issues with climate change.
Carbon Removal and Climate Impact
In the next 40 years, this initiative would sequester around 18 million tonnes of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, which would translate to about 400 tonnes per hectare. This large carbon removal highlights ANR’s efficiency of being a cost-efficient and a scalable solution for such issues related to climatic change.
The risk involved in the project is minimized through rigorous research and planning in its implementation by Catona Climate. A major company has already shown its interest in this project, thus proving it to be viable as a climate finance investment.
Community and Economic Benefits
Beyond environmental restoration, the project emphasizes local community engagement. It is expected to create employment opportunities, including educational programs that focus on empowering women in nearby communities. This approach not only enhances economic development in the region but also ensures sustainable management practices.
Future Vision
With the partnership, more use of ANR will be scaled up in Colombia, creating a biodiversity corridor. Innovative MRV technologies are being integrated into the project to track the progress. This is set to make the project an example of similar initiatives worldwide.
Catona Climate and NatureRe’s collaboration marks a major step toward the realization of large-scale ecosystem restoration through equilibrating the green growth balance with socio-economic development.
Source: Carbon Herald