- Mexico President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed allocating 1% of the military’s annual spending, or around $24 billion, to support six million tree planters in the reforestation of around 15 million hectares (37 million acres).
- If carried out successfully, it would be the largest reforestation effort in the country’s history, equivalent to the surface area of all of Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador combined.
- Military participation in reforestation programs has struggled in other parts of the region, critics noted, while pointing out that Mexico’s congress may cut funding for conservation in other government agencies.
MEXICO CITY — Officials in Mexico said they’re considering allocating 1% of the military budget for a countrywide tree planting program, with the aim of restoring forests and combatting climate change.
President Claudia Sheinbaum proposed dedicating $24 billion of the military’s annual budget to support six million tree planters in the reforestation of around 15 million hectares (37 million acres) across Mexico. The initiative isn’t official yet and doesn’t have a confirmed start date.
“It’s absurd and senseless that more is spent on weapons than on addressing poverty or climate change,” Sheinbaum said during this month’s G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro. “We would reduce migration and hunger if we could only elevate the word of love over hate, the generosity of the humble and dispossessed person above greed.”
If successful, the program would be the largest reforestation effort in the country’s history, equivalent to the surface area of all of Guatemala, Belize and El Salvador combined, or four times the size of Denmark.
Sheinbaum is a former environmental scientist who co-authored the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. She took office in October.
“We applaud any initiative that implies the increase in the flow of resources to nature and biodiversity,” said Rosario Álvarez Gutiérrez, general director of Pronatura – Noreste, a Mexican environmental group. She noted that Mexico spends disproportionately little of its GDP on the environment compared to other countries.
Sheinbaum’s reforestation proposal comes at the same time that lawmakers prepare to slash environmental funding in other parts of Mexico’s government. The current draft of the 2025 budget shows that funding for the environment and natural resources sector will be reduced by around 40%, from $3.3 million to $2.1 million.
Many of the cuts are coming out of the budgets of protected areas — the same ones that the military will likely try to restore. Cuts will also be made to the Federal Environmental Protection Agency, which enforces laws protecting Mexico’s natural resources.
Funding for adaptation and mitigation of the effects of climate change also includes infrastructure and subsidies that have nothing to do with the environment, according to the Mexican Center for Environmental Law (CEMDA).
“We believe this budget allocation doesn’t reflect the commitment that the new administration has shown towards the protection and defense of the environment and natural resources,” CEMDA said in a joint statement with Greenpeace and NGO Conexiones Climáticas. “We have a president with a scientific background, as well as deep knowledge of environmental issues, particularly climate change.”
In addition to the military program, Sheinbaum plans to continue an existing reforestation program called Sembrando Vida (or “planting life”), which provides approximately $1.7 billion in annual stipends to farmers growing and maintaining legal crops and trees.
Since 2018, Sembrando Vida has reforested 1.1 billion trees across more than one million hectares (2.5 million acres), capturing 30 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, the office of the president said.
But independent studies have found that the program may have actually resulted in a loss of forest and biodiversity, in part because property owners cut down their forests in order to qualify for the program.
When it comes to the 1% military spending, it’s unclear whether soldiers will be carrying out the reforestation work or the budget will be redirected to another agency. Other countries in the region that have tried using their armed forces for reforestation efforts, such as Honduras, have drawn criticism about whether soldiers have the tools and expertise to do the job.
Reforestation is slow, and trees require long-term care, they said. In some parts of the world, around half of all reforested trees die within the first ten years of being planted.
The $24 billion could be given to groups outside the military for conservation initiatives with higher success rates, Álvarez pointed out, including soil recovery, conservation of mangroves and erosion prevention.
“There are other entities, most notably communities that are closer to the [areas of concern], that should be receiving resources to invest in their territories to improve the environment,” she said.
Banner image: A reforestation effort in Xalapa. Photo courtesy of Gobierno de Veracruz.
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