Sierra de Guerrero, Mexico
Partners
- Consejo Regional de la Sierra de Guerrero (CRESIG – Regional Council of the Sierra de Guerrero Mountains)
- Reforestamos Mexico (Reforesting Mexico)
Brook in Guerrero/R. Alfonso
EcoLogic works with the Regional Council of the Sierra de Guerrero (Regional Council) to implement watershed management and payment for ecosystem services programs, providing ongoing technical and financial assistance. Filo Mayor, where we have focused our efforts, is in the section of the Sierra de Guerrero which holds the watersheds that provide 98% of the water feeding the resort city of Acapulco. Deforestation is rampant as land is sought out for purposes of agricultural expansion. The people living in these mountains remain poor, while the tourism industry downstream thrives on the water provided by the upland communities. EcoLogic and the Regional Council work to create opportunities that provide alternative sustainable livelihoods for the poor and structure equitable market links between the unquenchable demand for clean and constant water and the watershed management services supplied by the rural poor.
In December of 2007, EcoLogic and Reforestamos Mexico ("Reforesting Mexico") finalized an agreement to work together in areas where our complementary strengths will advance sustainable management of forest and water resources in Mexico. Started in response to the massive destruction of Mexican forests caused by the fires of May 1998, Reforestamos focuses on conservation, reforestation, and environmental education. It is one of the philanthropic branches of the Bimbo Group, the largest baked-goods producer in Latin America.
This alliance is also part of a social entrepreneurship approach that brings together the private, public, and nonprofit sectors to tackle the challenge of dwindling forests and water resources in the poorest regions of Mexico. Other participants include Walmart Mexico, the Río Arronte Foundation, as well as local, regional, and national government agencies.
The results described below were made possible by the support EcoLogic provides in partnership.
Results
Forests
- Established a network of 26 community-managed protected areas with tree nurseries to provide seedlings for restoration and reforestation; communities involved span over 600,000 acres of important upland habitat which now form a coordinated biological corridor
- Worked with communities who depend on forestry for their livelihoods to organize and support fire prevention groups; through these groups, community members conduct annual forest maintenance, remove accumulated tinder, maintain access roads/ firebreaks, and respond to fires
- Began work in conjunction with Reforestamos Mexico to reforest the Papagayo River Watershed
Water
- Inspired creation of network of locally-declared protected areas, managed by the Sierra de Guerrero communities, which will cover 617,500 acres
- With local forestry experts, demarcated boundaries and conducted species surveys in upland protected zones
- Began design for a technical management plan for the network of the protected areas
Payment for Ecosystem Services: Water
- Conducted water analysis studies in Papagayo River tributaries
- Began negotiations with ministries and private sector groups for political support, government funds, and private funds for payment for ecosystem services
Sustainable Livelihoods
- Promoted organic flower and vegetable production that emphasizes good soil and erosion control
- Negotiated partnership with COMEX, a large Mexican paint company, to create a project that will produce paint thinner from sustainably harvested pine resin; this project will impact 10,000 rural inhabitants and create 1,500 new jobs
- Initiated feasibility studies for several social enterprise projects
Looking Forward
- With Reforestamos Mexico, begin planting of 5 million trees over the next three years
- Negotiate with Acapulco’s tourism industry to compensate upland communities for the watershed protection and management services that provide 98% of the water used in the city; this agreement could prove to be a model for tourist destinations around the world
- Establish reforestation projects that produce carbon credits to sell on the voluntary carbon market
- Commercialize emerging sustainable enterprises along Papagayo River such as vegetable and fruit cultivation, and trout fisheries
