Since the 1950s, the residents of Leon, in western Nicaragua, suffered from choking duststorms that blanketed houses and streets with pesticide-laden dirt. Fifteen years ago, landowners rejected a soil-conservation program intended to help solve the problem, but now they have embraced a resurrection of the project that more directly involves them.
According to Armando Altamirano, director of the Forestry Support for the Farmers of Leon Project, known as "Cortinas Rompevientos," which is Spanish for Windbreak Curtains, the duststorms began when the trees that once covered the flat lands of Leon were cleared to make way for extensive cotton cultivation. Because of the resulting severe wind erosion, soils soon lost their fertility, while the dust-laced air caused serious respiratory illnesses.
When the revolutionary Sandinista government took control in 1979, officials declared the problem a high priority. They paid villagers to plant rows of trees, which totaled 744 miles (1,200 kms.) and covered 99,000 acres (40,000 hectares). Leafy curtains impeded the dusty winds, while tree roots helped hold soils in place.
"Each curtain was 10 meters wide, made of five rows of trees, with 400 meters between curtains," Altamirano explains. "They planted mostly eucalyptus because it grows quickly and is wind resistant."
But local landowners were less than thrilled that their property had been usurped for the windbreaks. Some burned the trees while others cut them down for firewood or simply bulldozed them to the ground. Altamirano notes that an inventory taken in 1986 showed that only 384 miles (620 kms.) of windbreaks remained intact. With a total of $1.4 million from Finland, the Cortinas Rompevientos project was re-introduced in 1992, this time with local participation. Project technicians worked alongside farmers to cultivate organic soybeans, peanuts, sesame seeds, melons and watermelons instead of cotton. "The communities have made a lot of progress," Altamirano points out. "They have restored the tree curtains to the original size. Now we have tree nurseries, four community banks, small, locally run forestry projects, and two mills to process sugar cane."
Many farmers have received training in how to sustainably manage the windbreaks by harvesting just a few trees at a time. Altamirano calculates that some 11,000 families in 11 towns have benefitted from Cortinas Rompevientos and adds that a cooperative formed by current project employees will continue the work when aid ends this year.
The mayor of Leon, Maria Elena Rojas, says that once residents understood how the windbreaks could benefit them, their attitudes changed. "People no longer get sick from all the dust," she reports. "They can use the eucalyptus as a natural medicine, for firewood, and building material."
Contacts: Armando Altamirano, Proyecto Cortinas Rompevientos, Apdo. 495, Leon, Nicaragua. 505/311-2148 (tel), 505/311-2393 (fax); Maria Elena Rojas, 505/311-3508. This article is provided from the Rainforest Alliance's Tropical Conservation Newsbureau, based in San Jose,Costa Rica. For more information, contact Diane Jukofsky or Chris Wille, Rainforest Alliance, Apdo. 138-2150, Moravia, San Jose, Costa Rica; Phone: 506-240-9383; Fax: 506-240-2543; Email: infotrop@sol.racsa.co.cr
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