Cases / Tree planting · Mexico · 2019–2022
Sembrando Vida (Sowing Life)
Nature's voice · report
72,830 hectares of my forest were lost. not independently verified estimate
Reported WRI Mexico estimate for programme municipalities; not independently verified. WRI said the analysis was not conclusive; causality disputed.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record.
What the record lacks: 3 none on record · 1 insufficient · 1 self-reported only · 1 unclear See the gaps
Mexico's tree-planting programme pays farmers a monthly sum to plant trees. A World Resources Institute estimate found it may have contributed to the loss of 72,830 hectares of forest cover in its first year.
72,830 ha estimateForest cover loss linked to the programme, first year
WRI estimate for 2019; WRI said the analysis was not conclusive.
WRI estimate for 2019; WRI said the analysis was not conclusive.
What?
Mexico's Sembrando Vida programme, begun in 2019, pays farmers a monthly sum to plant trees on their land. A World Resources Institute (WRI) Mexico analysis estimated it may have contributed to the loss of 72,830 hectares of forest cover in its first year; WRI said the analysis was not conclusive. Expansión Política
Where?
Mexico, in the municipalities where the programme operated.
When?
The programme began in 2019; Expansión reported the WRI estimate on 22 April 2021; Mongabay reported on Mexican restoration programmes in December 2022. Expansión Política
Who?
Gained
- Participating farmers — A monthly payment to plant trees on their land (amount and total not on record) Expansión Política
Lost
None on recordHarmed
- Forest cover in programme municipalities — 72,830 hectares lost in 2019, by WRI Mexico's estimate, which WRI called not conclusive; the causal link is disputed Expansión Política
Why?
The programme's stated purpose is to pay farmers to plant trees on their land. It has been argued that the forest loss stemmed from the design of the payment incentive; the government said only degraded land was eligible. Expansión Política
How?
The government pays participating farmers a monthly sum to plant trees on their land. WRI's analysis linked the programme's first year to forest-cover loss in the municipalities where it operated. Expansión Política
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
Sembrando Vida began in 2019. It pays participating farmers a monthly sum to plant trees on their land.
An analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Mexico, reported by Expansión in April 2021, estimated that in 2019 the programme may have contributed to the loss of 72,830 hectares of forest cover in the municipalities where it operated. WRI said the analysis was not conclusive; the causal link is disputed.
It has been argued that the harm stemmed from the design of the payment incentive. The government said only degraded land was eligible for the programme.
Expansión's April 2021 report described Sembrando Vida as a programme President López Obrador wanted to offer to US President Biden.
- 2019Programme begins; first year of payments
- 2021Expansión reports WRI estimate of 72,830 ha forest cover loss (22 Apr)
- 2022Mongabay reports on Mexican restoration programmes (Dec)
How it looked
What was shown, beside what was recorded.
Shown
- Farmers paid to plant trees
- A programme the President wanted to offer to the United States
Recorded
- WRI estimate: 72,830 ha of forest cover lost in programme municipalities in 2019
- WRI called its analysis not conclusive
- Government: only degraded land eligible
Who gained
Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.
Reached nature or the ground
Not published
Monthly payments to farmers—
Total not in the source record.
Gained elsewhere
Not totalled
Currency: USD · Window: —. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What nature saw
Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.
Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.
Forest cover loss, 2019 (estimate)
72,830 ha
WRI; not conclusive
Trees planted and surviving
Not on record
No independent count in the source record
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Money
- None on record Monthly payments to farmers — Total not in the source record.
Court
- None on record No court case on record.
Figures
- Insufficient Forest lost (ha): Reported WRI Mexico estimate for programme municipalities; not independently verified. WRI said the analysis was not conclusive; causality disputed.
Record
- None on record The programme's budget and the number of farmers paid: not in the source record.
- Self-reported only How many trees were planted and how many survived: no independent count on record.
- Unclear Whether the programme caused the forest cover loss: WRI said its analysis was not conclusive.
Did the harm stop?
No change to the payment design is on record.
Who paid?
Forests in programme municipalities, by WRI's estimate; not confirmed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers
Press and investigations
- Sembrando Vida, el programa con fallas que AMLO quiere ofrecer a BidenExpansión Política · 2021-04-22
- Mexican restoration dominated by non-environmental interestsMongabay · 2022-12
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