The conversion of natural forests to pasture is a major driver of biodiversity loss and land degradation in Latin America. Expansion of livestock production continues to put pressure on remaining forested areas while decreasing the productive capacity of these landscapes.
The Matiguás–Río Blanco area in Nicaragua is located in a biological corridor. It harbours several threatened tree species, as well as mixed vegetation from the Atlantic and Pacific regions. The area is relatively dry, hilly, and is dominated by pasture land. The rest is heavily fragmented secondary forest, “charrales” (shrublands), and crop lands with annual crops, semi-permanent crops, fruits and monoculture tree plantations.
The main challenge is to develop sustainable funding sources to continue the PES scheme. An added difficulty is institutional weaknesses, for example, a lack of continuity at the level of local government and a lack of producers associations. It is necessary to overcome this weakness by establishing a support infrastructure that can help farmers understand and adopt silvopastoral practices on a larger scale.
