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Ecosystem Services
A focus on Environmental Services (ES) can provide both short-term gain—clean water, for example—and long-term gain, the preservation of the watershed that provides the water.
Livelihoods
EcoLogic understands that in order for communities to focus on conservation, their basic needs must be met. We partner to generate income in ways that also build the capacity to oversee activity, monitor progress, and report on successful conservation efforts.
Photo Credit: Warren Darrell
Culture and Traditional Knowledge
The knowledge possessed by rural and indigenous communities directly contributes to the protection and restoration of the remarkable biodiversity of tropical ecosystems in Central America and Mexico.
Photo Credit: Isabel Carrio
Our Impact
We currently work directly with 8 local partners in Mesoamerica representing 382 communities over 404,914 hectares of biodiverse forests and tropical ecosystems. Our goal is to ensure that these communities have access to the knowledge, networks, incentives, and tools that they need to take the lead in conserving their environment.
Challenges We Face
Deforestation
Globally, deforestation and forest degradation continue to take place at alarming rates. Between 2001-2010, Latin America and the Caribbean region had an estimated net loss of 179,404 km2 of woody vegetation, caused by 541,835 km2 of deforestation.
Slash and Burn Agriculture
Today, with more people than ever trying to survive in the midst of dwindling natural resources, the impact of slash-and-burn is particularly destructive and unsustainable. It exacerbates destructive impacts on already-fragile ecosystems and contributes to climate change.
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Photo Credit: Todd Shapera Photography
Climate Change
Approximately 30% of global greenhouse gas emissions result from agriculture, forestry, and other land-use change. Nature-based solutions to climate change can provide up to 37% of the emission reductions needed by 2030 to keep global temperature increases under 2℃--30% more than previously estimated.
Biodiversity Loss
Central America and southern Mexico, are a global “hotspot” for biodiversity. Central America alone makes up barely 0.1% of the world’s landmass, but is home to 7% of the world’s biological diversity. Yet this region is losing its remaining habitat, including forest, grasslands, mangroves, and freshwater bodies at one of the highest rates worldwide.
Photo Credit: Daniel Elías Batz
Our Progress
Why It Matters
