The Amazon is experiencing a rough time, with devastating fires destroying a significant amount of its agricultural land. However, nature is miraculous. Now, researchers discovered a tree species that can keep the soil fertile, reduce soil erosion, and potentially restore the grave situation in the rainforest.
The Inga Tree
The Inga tree, also known as the ice-cream bean tree, is common and found throughout the Amazon forest region. There are more than 300 tree species, the Inga species is a part of the legume family. The unique quality that the tree possesses an ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in the soil, which is a crucial nutrient for plants. Additionally, Inga’s can grow on extremely degraded soil, even soil left by destructive slash and burn land clearing. The tree can ultimately improve the degraded soil and make it fertile enough for other species to thrive.
Toby Pennington, a professor at the University of Exeter, UK, said:
It’s very much a kind of ‘miracle tree’ or a supertree because some of the species can do some amazing things.
Prof Pennington has studied Inga trees for over twenty years already. He is currently working alongside a project that focuses on promoting the benefits of the tree to smallholders that reside in an area known as the arc of destruction in southern Brazil.
Farmer’s Income
The project is designed to support farmers who wish to plant Inga trees, with a goal of the trees providing the farmers with a source of income. Researchers hope the scheme will prevent farmers from selling their land to large agri-businesses and remain farmers in the Amazon.
The trees can be coppiced (cut back) to create wood fuel; they produce edible fruits, the leaves can be food for cattle, and farmers can sell the beans. Every bit of the tree can be used in some way, giving several reasons to invest in growing them.
Pennington said:
Even amongst legumes, they have pretty fantastic growth rates.
Boosting Biodiversity And Soil
The Inga tree’s foster incredible ecosystems below their branches and are a vital means of increasing ecological diversity. Properties such as nitrogen fixation and tons of fallen leaves produce healthy mulch under the tree, resulting in a very healthy fertilized soil. Therefore, any crops grown under the tree will thrive without needing to add all the extra fertilizer and herbicides.
Pennington added:
If you had a cup of coffee this morning that came from Latin America, the odds are that it was growing underneath one of these Inga trees.
Dr. Saulo de Souza from the Institute of Green Gold (Instituto Ouro Verde) believes the project will prove environmentally beneficial. By encouraging greater biodiversity in areas affected by fires, he hopes they could help mitigate some of the worst effects of climate change.
Unfortunately, the Amazon has become split up into fractured areas due to the wildfires. However, in areas where many Inga trees take up great coverage of lands, they could potentially be used as vital corridors for wildlife.
De Souza explained:
These plantations would favor wildlife that could use them as habitats or as stepping stones to move between forest remnants.
Deforestation Must End
Attempts to re-green areas of the Amazon has to begin with stopping the destruction of the rainforest. In June 2019, Satellite data from Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research showed that fires in the Amazon increased up to 88% compared to the same month the previous year. However, when that data was publicly released, the Brazilian president accused the director of lying. Not long after, the director got fired from his job.
Professor Thomas Lovejoy from George Mason University has studied the Amazon over the past five decades. Lovejoy warns about the possibility of the rainforest reaching a ‘tipping point’ of destruction beyond human control and, consequently, a disaster for life on the planet.
