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Mayan Communities Saving Their Forests
 A waterfall in the middle of the Lacandón rainforest in Chiapas, Mexico. |
"Bosques Pico Bonito, our project in Northern Honduras, was an important first effort by EcoLogic to understand carbon markets and their potential for protecting forests and biodiversity, while also looking at the benefits and challenges for local people who want to tap into them. It laid the foundation for the work we are doing now in the Lacandón forest of Mexico collaborating with our local partner, Na'Bolom, to put in place a REDD+ program to protect the forest for the communities that live there."
- Dr. Bryan Foster, EcoLogic CarbonPlus Program Director
Within the Sierra Cojolita Community Reserve in the Lacandón forest, the Mayan communities want to protect the forest and improve livelihoods by using emerging carbon markets, however a lack of technical training, collaboration and financing hold them back. EcoLogic and our Chiapas-based partner, Na'Bolom are working with three different Mayan communities – the indigenous Choles, Tzeltales and Lacandones – to provide the training and resources needed to successfully implement a REDD+ project that will be administered by the communities themselves.
Meet Our Management Team
As many of you know, we have new leadership at EcoLogic. Fortunately, we mean "new" in the sense that EcoLogic managers with significant experience have moved into new roles, so we’d like to take a minute now to re-introduce you to them. These four now make up EcoLogic's management team, and they are excited to guide EcoLogic into a new era of action helping the rural poor restore and protect tropical ecosystems and natural resources in Central America and Mexico.
 EcoLogic's Management Team (L-R): Dave Kramer, Barbara Vallarino, Gabriela González Garcia, Melissa Haley |
Barbara Vallarino, a Panamanian who joined EcoLogic in 2003, now serves as EcoLogic's interim executive director. Barbara holds a juris doctor with a concentration in environmental law from the University of Washington (where she’s a member of the state bar association) and a bachelor of arts cum laude in environmental earth science and anthropology from Dartmouth College. Barbara has been passionately involved in tropical conservation work since her teens when she volunteered as a research assistant for the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute monitoring the Panama Canal watershed, and later wrote fundraising proposals for Panama’s National Association for the Conservation of Nature (ANCON). Prior to joining EcoLogic she completed the Hydropower Reform Fellowship at American Rivers in Seattle, Washington, which focused on promoting meaningful citizen participation in the licensing of hydropower projects. But don’t think Barbara’s just a high-powered mind who's good at making a difference for people and planet alike – she also enjoys trail running, cooking Latin food, and loves all things related to sloths.
Melissa Haley came to EcoLogic in 2004, after working as the senior project manager and chief financial officer at a foreign language translation company. For her undergraduate degree, Melissa completed a double major in international politics and economics and Russian language and literature at Middlebury College. Now our director of finance and administration, Melissa is also currently earning a masters in business administration from Babson College. Melissa and family are big on sustainability, and she loves teaching her three-year old how to grow organic vegetables, and raise chickens in the backyard.
David Kramer first joined EcoLogic as an intern back in 2004, while earning a master's in public policy from the Kennedy School at Harvard where he focused on the strategic management of nonprofits and international sustainable development. A Switzer Environmental Fellow, David has most recently directed our institutional development funding efforts and played a key role in the creation of our 2012-2017 strategic plan. Dave often volunteers with his daughter and her school doing outdoor activities and clean-up projects, and in the office he is our resident punster and "bad" joke teller.
Regional Program Director Gabriela "Gaby" González holds a master's degree in business administration from Rafael Landivar University in Guatemala, where she also served as the director of finance and administration for seven years. She has completed executive education courses at Harvard University, Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. Gaby runs our regional office in Xela, Guatemala, and often takes family and friends on excursions to areas where EcoLogic works to show them first hand what can be done to turn environmental problems around.
Continuing the Impact of Rainforest2Reef
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As you know, last year EcoLogic joined forces with Rainforest2Reef (R2R). While R2R has ceased its operations, its spirit and mission live on through our work, and David and Sandra continue to be a part of the EcoLogic family (stay tuned for an EcoLogicians interview with them coming out this summer). Like R2R, EcoLogic applies a holistic approach to environmental conservation and sustainable development working with communities to find solutions that protect and restore biodiversity, natural resources and critical habitat.
As David observed, "R2R demonstrated that you don’t have to be wealthy to have an impact. You can work with the local people and if you help them figure out why they need to conserve the jungle and how to do it, then you have a chance of having a real and lasting impact. R2R understood this, and so does EcoLogic."
Earlier this year, EcoLogic delivered payment to Ejido Yohaltun as part of a conservation easement agreement to protect vital jaguar habitat in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. The arrangement lets the land owners maintain ownership of their forest lands but requires them to refrain from engaging in logging and other destructive activities. In return, the ejido or community receives annual compensation equivalent to 2.5 times what they would get paid from a logging company. The people get a better payment for the living trees, refrain from logging, and conserve this threatened habitat.
The Calakmul project is a natural extension of EcoLogic's commitment to empower rural people to restore and protect tropical ecosystems. We look forward to sharing more with you about our projects throughout Mexico and Central America. For example, we are currently working in the Gulf of San Miguel in Panama with local communities to put in place effective community-based management of the area's natural resources including the protection of precious mangrove forests.
Mangroves are critical "nurseries" where an estimated third of all fish and marine species are born and grow as juveniles, protected from large predators. And the mangroves of San Miguel are important habitat for many species that we in the US also know and appreciate including birds, and sea turtles that migrate between the two countries. One key activity Ecologic has undertaken is helping the communities obtain protected area status for the Gulf of San Miguel. This will establish necessary legal safeguards that will help ensure this place continues to thrive. Stay tuned for more information about EcoLogic's work in Panama!
Water Committee in Honduras Wins United Nations Prize
Our partner AJAASSPIB won the Equator prize! One of our jobs as collaborators with our community partner organizations is to promote their successes so they gain needed support. Doing so also helps get the word out about the ways the EcoLogic community is solving problems. We nominated the Association of Water Committees of the Southern Sector of Pico Bonito National Park or AJAASSPIB (Spanish acronym) for their work leading communities to conserve, restore and sustainably manage local water resources. As part of our mandate to strengthen community governance structures and leadership abilities, EcoLogic was instrumental in helping establish AJAASSPIB in 2003, and have worked with them since on activities including reforestation, the installation of fuel efficient cooking stoves, the mapping, legal demarcation and protection of watersheds, and environmental awareness campaigns.
The goal of the Equator prize of the United Nations Development Programme is to “recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature and resilient communities.” AJAASSPIB was one of 25 organizations world-wide selected from the more than 800 nominations received. AJAASSPIB will receive $5,000 for program activities, and an AJAASSPIB representative will travel to the Rio +20 conference in June. At Rio, the representative will participate in special trainings, workshops and networking events sponsored by the Equator Initiave. In addition, ten of the 25 organizations will be chosen to receive an additional $15,000. Please wish AJAASSPIB luck, and we’ll keep you posted!
Our Forest Sings: Totonicapán TV Promotes Forest Conservation
 The television spot that ran for communities around Totonicapán. "Our Forest Sings for the water, for the air, and for life." |
Last fall EcoLogic and local partner the 48 Cantones began an environmental awareness campaign to encourage local communities to protect the 52,000 acre old-growth forest of Totonicapán, Guatemala. Members of the 48 Cantones, EcoLogic staff and a journalist from Guatemala City collaborated to develop the campaign, “Our Forest Sings for the water, for the air, and for life.” From August through December local radio stations aired short public awareness ads that the campaign produced in Spanish and Maya Quiché, and two tv channels regularly broadcast a television spot to an audience of over 100,000 people.
There were other activities as part of the campaign including mural painting events, an art show and student contest, skits performed by youth groups at local schools and community meetings, and a parade. Much of the artwork and expression reflected the holistic Maya belief that, as Totonicapán elder Pedro Calel explained it, “all things are really only one thing with the Ajaw (water spirit), the sky and the earth, nature, people…and one can’t understand any one part if you don’t understand the whole.”
The Quiché spiritual practice reveres the forest—known as “Kachelaj”—as the source of life, and the foundation of community. There has been sustainable and successful management of the forest for more than 800 years. Unfortunately, Quiché beliefs and practices are on the decline. This campaign was part of an ongoing effort on the part of EcoLogic and 48 Cantones to engage the younger generation in understanding Quiché culture and beliefs and by extension preserving the forest and natural environment.
"Golden" Prize for guama advocate
We are pleased to congratulate José Salvador Toc who recently received Heifer International's Golden Talent Award for "visionary leadership" in his community. Don Salvador, a farmer from Ixcan in Guatemala, has been an active community collaborator with EcoLogic and local partner, the Northern Border Municipalities Alliance (MFN), since our project work began in the area in 2005.
Don Salvador has always been an active participant in community consultations and workshops, but his championing of the use of Inga or guama (Spanish) trees in agroforestry is what truly set him apart. In 2008, EcoLogic provided Don Salvador with technical training in agroforestry techniques, and gave him guama seeds to start his own plot. Just two years later, Don Salvador was harvesting 40% more corn from the corn stalks grown between the guama trees, and the guama leaves were suppressing weeds and mulching the soil so no extra fertilizer was needed. Wanting to share this knowledge and help his community, Don Salvador began to encourage farmers near and far to visit his parcel. To this day he provides trainings to any who wish help, and donates guama seeds to the community and his neighbors whenever he can. The award from Heifer, recognizes this pioneering spirit and personal dedication.
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In addition to the $200 cash prize, Don Salvador also received waterproof boots, a bag of corn seed, and money for more guama seed. Ten EcoLogic-trained forest guardians who gave early help to Don Salvador and to the agroforestry program, also received corn seed, boots, and a coupon for guama seeds redeemable when available. We're happy to report guama seed is now in demand!
In 2010, EcoLogic and MFN, began a three year collaboration with Heifer to develop and put in place community-driven initiatives to promote sustainable resource management, forest and watershed protection, and better food security. A central objective of the partnership is to increase knowledge exchange and training opportunities among the 60 communities to accelerate the adoption of successful activities – such as guama agroforestry plots, and training for volunteer forest guardians or park rangers – throughout the target area.
EcoLogician Frances Moore Lappé:
A conversation with the writer, activist and EcoLogic supporter
Frances Moore Lappé is a well known writer and activist who first became known in 1971 for her groundbreaking book “Diet for A Small Planet” which argued persuasively that the industrial food system was largely responsible for world hunger and food insecurity, not natural disasters or environmental limits. In 2001, she founded the Small Planet Institute with her daughter, Anna, to promote a world-wide movement toward “Living Democracy.” They define Living Democracy as an ethos in which “citizens infuse the values of inclusion, fairness and mutual accountability into all dimensions of public life” leading to a just and sustainable society.
In August 2002, Frances Moore Lappé traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa to attend The World Summit on Sustainable Development — otherwise known as Rio+10 or the Earth Summit. She stayed with friends from Vermont who had brought together a group of visitors to share a place to stay for the week. There, over breakfast, Lappé and another attendee, EcoLogic co-founder Shaun Paul, struck up a conversation. They had much in common including a passion for social justice and a commitment to protecting the natural world. They were also both living and working in the greater Boston area, and Lappé had recently begun looking for new office space for her nascent organization, the Small Planet Institute. As it so happened, EcoLogic had extra space to offer. Thus began a mutually beneficial relationship between the two organizations which has provided camaraderie, a cross-pollination of ideas, and as Lappé observes, a “fecund work environment of mutuality and respect.”
No doubt that many EcoLogic supporters know you as an author—of 18 books now!—and a speaker and an activist. How would you characterize what you do and why?
FML: My life's mission is to help people find their power, so they can engage in the world in a meaningful way. Unless we can see what is the causal pattern creating needless misery, it is very hard to feel that our individual actions add up to anything. People say, "I'm just a drop in the bucket," and disparage themselves and their impact. The Small Planet Institute counter is, "Hey, buckets fill up really fast on a rainy night." So my whole life has been devoted to helping people see the "bucket" of Living Democracy emerging so they can believe in the power of the rainstorm.
Looking back and moving forward
 Annual Report - 2010 |
We are pleased to share with you EcoLogic's 2010 annual report! We are very happy with our publication, and this year's new look and feel. Within we highlight some of our achievements, introduce you to a few of the extraordinary people and organizations we work with, and tell you about some of the ways we are helping rural communities restore and protect the natural habitats around them. We hope you enjoy it, too.
Read our annual report and find out more about our work.
Photos highlight projects and progress
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We are also introducing you to our new photo gallery with images of some of the faces and places that make up EcoLogic. Here you can find out about some of our new and ongoing projects including our Oak Foundation-supported binational effort that brings together Guatemalans and Belizeans to find ways to sustainably manage the mangroves and coastal waters they share along the Sarstún River.
You can also learn about our work establishing PIBOTEX, a biological corridor that connects three parks in northern Honduras which are home to a diversity of threatened wildlife including toucans, spider monkeys, and jaguars. This area also provides critical wintering grounds for many species of migratory songbirds.
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Look through our photo gallery highlighting our work.
Latrines Get Illustrated!
In this issue of EcoLogic’s eNews we’re giving you a sneak preview of one of the illustrations we’re using in this year’s annual report. We like the beauty of the artist’s work and thought the illustration and text might be a good way to give you a different vantage on some of our specific project work in the field.
Read more here.
Staff Spotlight: Gabriela González
“It moved my heart,” says Regional Program Director Gabriela “Gaby” González about a site visit she made shortly after joining EcoLogic, in October 2010. “We went to a remote village a few hours from Livingston, Guatemala. EcoLogic had just started helping the people build a nursery for guama (Inga edulis) trees to increase their crop yields.* After hiking for a couple of hours, we arrived at a village in the jungle. It was preciosa—a place full of natural beauty. We were quickly surrounded by young children. I remarked to one, ‘What beautiful land you have,’ and he said back to me, ‘Yes, but without a future.’”
* An agriculture technique known as agro-forestry or intercropping uses certain tree species, such as guama (Inga) and Andean alder (Alnus) to help food crops grow without chemical fertilizers by fixing nitrogen and providing leaf litter to enrich the soil. These species also thrive with heavy pruning and so provide a fuel wood crop as well.
EcoLogic Expands Its Efforts in Honduras
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Community consultations are set to begin in November near Mt. Celaque in western Honduras, the site of EcoLogic’s newest project in Honduras. EcoLogic is partnering with The Municipalities of the National Park of Mt. Celaque (MAPANCE), an organization established in 2009 to co-manage the park with the national government. EcoLogic and MAPANCE signed an agreement to preserve the forest and water sources in and around Mt. Celaque and to identify sustainable livelihood alternatives for the communities in the area.
Read more about our work with MAPANCE.
Rainforest2Reef joins EcoLogic
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EcoLogic and Rainforest2Reef (R2R), a leader in the protection of the Calakmul Biosphere in Mexico, announce that R2R will become a part of EcoLogic "to create a more powerful force for saving species and habitat," said David Leventhal, President of R2R.
Read more about our collaboration with R2R!
Praise for an EcoLogic Stove: A Testimonial by Serbelia Caal
“My name is Serbelia Grave Caal. I am ethnic Q’e’qchi. In 2010, I received an EcoLogic fuel efficient stove. For its construction, I contributed two bags of sand, 20 bricks, two bags of clay, and my time assisting the mason who built my stove. I also agreed to plant and tend an agroforestry plot. The trees I plant there will help provide the firewood for cooking and will mean even less wood taken from the forest. Read more about Serbelia's testimonial.
Why Plant Trees?
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Or perhaps the more relevant question for our readers: Why help EcoLogic support and encourage remote villages and communities to plant trees?
Don Diego García lives in the village of Tiak’tak, one of several communities established around a 37,500 acre forest in northwestern Guatemala. The forest is part of a half-million acre stretch that EcoLogic’s partner, the Northern Border Municipalities Alliance (MFN), hopes to establish as the Maya Chuj Biosphere Reserve. A few years ago, Don Diego volunteered for EcoLogic -sponsored training to become a “guardabosque” or forest guardian, because, as EcoLogic field technician Daniel Herrera reports, “Don Diego sees the forest disappearing and says we can’t let that happen or we will disappear, too.”
Read more about how EcoLogic has helped communities plant more trees.
Project Spotlight: The Gulf of San Miguel, Panama
Since 2008, EcoLogic has worked with communities in the Gulf of San Miguel to help them find ways to better balance their lives with the health of the gulf ecosystem upon which they rely, and to better protect it from exploitation. 
The Gulf of San Miguel is an area of more than 30,000 hectares of mangroves and coastal habitat on the Pacific coast of Panama; it represents 17 percent of the mangroves found in Panama, which has the most mangroves of any country in Central America. The gulf is fed by the Tuira, the largest river in the country, and given the rich biological diversity present, many small fishing villages have established themselves here over the years. The gulf also lies within the easternmost province of Darién which includes lands traditionally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Kuna, Emberá, and Wouanaan.
Read more about EcoLogic's efforts in Panama.
Beware Illegal Loggers: A Plan to Protect Totonicapán Forest Is Underway
Identifying the Problem
For a week in early spring, the Guatemalan environmental police staked out a road that enters the 
San Miguel forest to count how many illegal logging trucks were entering and exiting. The news was not good: on average, approximately fifty pick-up trucks left each day filled with logs and wood equal to thirty medium-sized trees.
This means that via this access road alone, illegal loggers harvest almost 11,000 trees a year. And this is only one of four official entry points into the San Miguel forest; it is likely that almost 44,000 trees are disappearing from the forest every year due to illegal theft via these access roads alone. Many additional trees are taken illegally from several other access points along the forest perimeter, thus this number is likely only a fraction of the total number of trees illegally cut down and removed every year.
The Totonicapán Forest: What's at Stake
Located in Totonicapán department in Guatemala, the Forest of Totonicapán is a 52,000 acre 
old-growth forest: in a space a little more than double the size of Manhattan a variety of ecosystems from humid lowlands of mixed broadleaf trees to high-elevation tracts of conifer have flourished largely undisturbed for hundreds of years. Found here are many species of birds, plants, mammals, reptiles and insects which are endemic to the region including the largest remaining stand of the endangered Guatemalan fir (Abies guatemalensis). Recognizing the ecosystem’s critical importance, in 1959 the government of Guatemala designated just over 16,000 hectares as Los Altos de San Miguel Totonicapán, a national park.
More than fifty thousand people..
EcoLogic in the Field and on the Town
EcoLogic Development Fund spent a sunny Saturday in May reaching out to new friends and
supporters at the 18th Annual EarthFest, a daylong free concert event in Boston. EcoLogic staff and volunteers were there to raise awareness about EcoLogic’s work collaborating with local communities in Latin America to protect threatened ecosystems and sustainably manage natural resources. “EarthFest provided an opportunity to be out there in front of a crowd that has an environmental ethic,” observed Barbara Vallarino, director of development. “We want to increase our name recognition in the Boston area, and this is a big group of people with like-minded concerns and goals.”
A Change Will Do You Good
In February, Chris Patterson could be found sitting at his desk in Cambridge, Massachusetts, writing grant
proposals, or talking via Skype to regional staff in Latin America, or using Google Earth to evaluate a new, potential project site or perhaps doing all three at once. Now his daily experience is rather different.
Currently, Chris is half way through a four month stay in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala, working out of EcoLogic’s regional office there. He is gaining valuable insights into the lives of the people he used to only speak with through a computer, and the forests he formerly only saw in photographs and satellite images.
In the next two months, Chris will visit EcoLogic project sites in the Sartsoon region of Belize, as well as Totonicapan and Huehuetenango in the Guatemalan highlands. He’ll be talking to community leaders from our partner organizations and farmers and fisherfolk who are now using more sustainable production methods.
Special thanks to contributing writer Susan Boni.
Leveraging Forest Partnerships!
EcoLogic’s project partner, the Association of the 48 Cantons, in Totonicapán, Guatemala, has received a grant from Rainforest Alliance for US$30,000 to expand reforestation efforts. The Association will use the funds to construct two greenhouses with a capacity to produce approximately 17,000 trees a year; EcoLogic will provide the funds for a third greenhouse. Ecologic will also train Association members and others in best practices for managing the greenhouses and for the reforestation of the surrounding areas with the trees produced. The three new greenhouses will be in addition to five existing ones which produced 110,000 trees in 2010.
The funding from Rainforest Alliance is provided by USAID. The signing of the grant agreement was witnessed by senior USAID officials, the US Ambassador to Guatemala, Stephen G. McFarland, and EcoLogic staff.
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The 48 Cantons of Totonicapán is a traditional Quiché governance authority that serves and represents the villages around the Communal Forest of Los Altos de San Miguel, where EcoLogic has worked since 2003. This old growth forest has been protected for centuries by indigenous communities, utilizing a traditional management system based on the interrelationship between forests, people, and water.
“This is an excellent example of how we can work together with our partners and other donors to leverage EcoLogic’s successful track record of protecting environmentally sensitive forests in Guatemala,” said to Sebastián Charchalac, EcoLogic Regional Director for Central America and Mexico. “We are grateful to Rainforest Alliance and USAID for joining us in this effort.”
The construction of the greenhouses is scheduled to be completed by June 15.
Read more about our work in with the 48 Cantones.
March, 2011
EcoLogic Wins International Prize
EcoLogic Development Fund has been awarded $50,000 in recognition and support of its work in Honduras securing reliable, potable water for rural communities. The SwissRe International ReSource Award, from insurer SwissRe of Switzerland, is an internationally recognized prize for leadership in implementing the principles of sustainability in watershed management. The ReSource award is given to organizations that raise awareness of the ecological, social, and economic significance of water sources and watersheds in developing and emerging countries. EcoLogic beat out 194 projects to make the final round of 9 and receive the runner-up prize.
For more information please visit http://www.resourceaward.org/node/120
February, 2011
Empowering women in Guatemala
Daria Maribel Lopez has always been house proud, but never more than now. Recently, her
home experienced a radical makeover. No walls were torn down; no professional designers involved, just two changes: a new stove and a faucet with clean running water.
Before these home improvements, the smoke from the open pit Daria cooked over coated everything in her kitchen with a film of soot. Keeping her children out of the kitchen while she prepared meals so they didn’t inhale the smoke was a challenge, especially on cold days when they craved the warmth of the fire. Water was used sparingly since transporting it entailed frequent and tiring walks to the river. In spite of her best efforts to keep home and family clean and healthy, she could not stay ahead of the squalid and toxic effects of the smoke. Persistent coughs and severe eye irritations were facts of life in the dingy dwelling.
Read more about Daria's journey.
February, 2011
Community Leader Ovina Hurtado in Panama
Why is the environment important to you? Because the environment is everything that
surrounds us. Without it, we could not live.
How is life different today from when you were a child? It was very different before. It was tranquil. There was no agitation. We lived on agriculture, fishing, and hunting. Nowadays almost all of that is finished. There is nothing. We have damaged all the habitats and the things we get from the sea are scarce because of the contamination.
What problems do you and your community face? We need water and electricity, first and foremost.
What problems threaten the local environment? Pollution from garbage, [and] over-fishing, the nets that are put at the mouth of rivers, and the new method of using nets that extend all the way to the bottom of the water.
Read more about Ovina and her work in the community.
January, 2011
Bi-national Initiative Hits Milestone with Funding Boost
This month, EcoLogic received critical funding from Oak Foundation to move forward on conserving the precious biodiversity of Amatique Bay, located at the mouth of the Sartstoon River on the border of Guatemala and Belize.
The land surrounding the Bay faces constant pressure from oil exploration, agro-industry, and the daily needs of local people. Communities depend on small scale fishing as one of their main commercial activities. However, the fisherfolk on either side of the river have a history of poor communication, and there is inadequate coordination of fisheries management, such as no-fish zones or closed seasons.
Read more about our work in the Sarstoon Region.
December, 2010
EcoLogic's projects now on Global Action Atlas
National Geographic has launched the non-profit giving site, Global Action Atlas, an interactive website that allows users to click anywhere on a world map to find and support projects in all areas of the globe. Projects range from environmental conservation to supporting human rights.
EcoLogic is currently featuring seven of its projects throughout Central America, including including bringing clean water to coastal Panama and protecting a biological corridor in Honduras.
Read about our projects and how to support our work through the Global Action Atlas.
November 2010
Board of Directors Elects New Member
Gregory Ch’oc was elected to the EcoLogic Board of Directors this month during the Board’s
quarterly meeting in Cambridge. Mr. Ch’oc, a Q'eqchi Mayan leader, has a long relationship with EcoLogic as the founder of the environmental organization Sarstoon Temash Institute for Indigenous Management (SATIIM) in southern Belize. With his first-hand knowledge of indigenous cultures, environmental protection of at the community level, and land rights, Mr. Ch’oc is a welcome addition and valuable new member of EcoLogic's Board.
"Greg brings a unique perspective to our work. We are so fortunate to have his counsel and insight into our various regional projects," said Executive Director Shaun Paul.
Read more about EcoLogic's work in Belize.
September 2010
Training Community Leaders in Honduras
EcoLogic recently organized and co-sponsored a regional workshop in La Ceiba, Honduras 
on “Compensation and Payment for Environmental Services (PES) for Communities in Central America.” From August 9-13, more than 60 community leaders from 32 non-governmental organizations and 9 countries gathered to share their knowledge and discuss their experiences with PES projects in Central America and Mexico. The workshop provided practical, hands-on training on the development and execution of PES projects.
PES is an arrangement whereby the stewards, or providers, of environmental services are compensated by the beneficiaries, or consumers, of such services. This includes compensating communities for activities such as protecting forests and planting trees to sequester carbon from the atmosphere and managing upstream watersheds thus providing safe and reliable water for downstream population centers.
Read more about the PES workshop.
June. 2010
Consultation Reveals Solid Waste Problem in Three Panamanian Communities
A community consultation completed recently demonstrated an urgent need for solid waste management plans in three communities along the Gulf of San Miguel in eastern Panama. Currently, there is a lack of proper disposal of organic and plastic wastes, leading to pollution of the communities themselves, nearby mangroves, and the local water supply. Read more about the consultation and the current situation in these communities.
April, 2010
Meet Lacho: A True Environmental Leader
Darcio Puerto, lovingly known in his community as "Lacho," was elected six years ago as the President of the Administrative Water Board of El Nance, a small community in rural Honduras within the municipality of Olanchito. Like all of the members of the water board, he works as an unpaid volunteer. Read about Lacho's struggle to improve his community's water system and protect the rivers and streams that now provide clean water to 130 homes.
October, 2009
New Initiative Aims to Save River by Helping Rural Poor
Last month the new "Save the Papagayo River" Initiative met in Acapulco, Mexico to explore how the affluent residents of Acapulco can support the efforts of the poor communities in the nearby highlands to protect the source of the Papagayo River, which supplies 98% of the resort city's water. Bringing together members of the public, private and civil sectors along with leaders from the communities involved, EcoLogic and the Regional Council of the Sierra de Guerrero (CRESIG) are moving forward with a new model for ensuring that downstream users provide financial support to the rural poor living upstream who are using environmental conservation to protect a common resource. Learn more about this unique and promising project and how EcoLogic is overcoming obstacles to ensure this major river remains healthy for decades to come!
June, 2009
Reforestation Provides Environmental and Social Benefits for the Rural Poor
Planting trees helps to restore degraded lands, expand forest cover, and mitigate climate change by capturing and storing carbon dioxide. But reforestation activities also provide a wealth of benefits to people: protection of water sources, increased food security, strengthened community relationships, increased environmental awareness, and the empowerment of women. Discover how EcoLogic's reforestation projects are improving people's lives while restoring degraded landscapes.
March, 2009
Helping Indigenous People Balance Needs with Nature
For over 800 years, the forest of San Miguel de los Altos has been protected by the Quiche Maya of Totonicapán, who long ago developed a system of traditional forest resource use and protection. To safeguard this vital resource, EcoLogic has partnered with the Communal Forest Commission of the 48 Cantons to further large-scale reforestation efforts in order to restore degraded water catchment areas, construct fuel-efficient stoves, and defend community water rights from the threat of privatization. Learn more about the Quiche Maya and how they serve as stewards to an important resource, despite obstacles from outside threats and a changing world.
February, 2009
Ground-Breaking Initiative Strengthens Bi-national Collaboration
EcoLogic is moving forward with a new initiative that unites communities across a national border for the protection of a common natural resource. The Binational Management Plan for the Sarstoon River Basin builds on EcoLogic's previous successes with local partner organizations on either side of the Sarstoon River to engage communities in local governance of natural resources and to establish sustainable livelihood alternatives that reduce the impact of the rural poor on critical habitats. Learn more about this incredible collaboration, the groups involved, and the plans being made to bridge these communities together.
January, 2009
New Youth Group Leads Communities in Conservation
Ana Florinda Xol is a young K'eqchi woman living in the Sarstún region of eastern Guatemala. A student studying community development, she has the distinct position of leading a new youth association that brings together young adults from 16 different communities for the conservation of local natural resources. Learn more about this incredible new group of students and what they are doing to help their communities in the Sarstun River watershed.<-->