August, 2010

PES workshop highlights Pico Bonito

Thanks to your help, the forest in Pico Bonito continues to grow. EcoLogic’s work in the Honduras forest was used as an example of how Payment for Environmental Services can be successfully implemented at a workshop earlier this month. Community Leaders and NGO Professionals were led on a one day field trip to the Pico Bonito Forest, led by CarbonPlus Director Bryan Foster, to see the reforestation efforts.

The workshop, Compensation and Payments for Environmental Services for Communities in Central America, was held a short distance from the Pico Bonito Forest in Le Ceiba, Honduras.  The workshop focused on cases studies to identify ways to work together to successfully put a value on and market environmental services.  These services include sustaining biodiversity, water quantity and quality and carbon sequestration.   

The workshop was co-sponsored by ELTI of Yale, Forest Trends, and Rainforest Alliance.   

June 3, 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 22, 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 8, 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 1, 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 30, 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 25, 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 22, 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.