Rome.- Chile and Costa Rica are two of the countriesrecognized by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for having highlevels of food security while maintaining or expanding forests, EFE reports.
The FAO’s latest report released in Rome says the two LatinAmerican countries figure in a list of more than 20 nations which’ve shown that"there’s no need to cut down forests to produce more food."
Of those, the forest cover has increased more than 10% inAlgeria, Chile, China, Dominican Republic, Gambia, Iran, Morocco, Thailand,Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay and Vietnam.
Based on geographic representation criteria, thepublication details the cases of Chile and Costa Rica, which according to FAOForestry Economic Policy director Eva Müller, have achieved a "developmentthat takes into account both agriculture and forests," albeit differently each.
Müller told Efe that Chile, with high income and "substantial"GDP growth has established policies that help increase agro production whilealso expanding forest plantation activities such as marketing timber.
The study notes that Chile’s farming sector has reactedflexibly to changes in the open market, in particular the export potential, andhas responded positively to lower tariffs replacing traditional crops to moreprofitable alternatives such as wine, fruits or flowers.