Where We Work

Mexico

Rainforest Alliance Projects

Courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin

Integrated Landscape Conservation in Partnership with SEMARNAT.
In partnership with the government of Mexico, the Rainforest Alliance will lead a project to provide sustainable livelihoods and slow down inappropriate land conversion in Mexico through an integrated landscape conservation effort. Local and international non-governmental organizations will work together in the agriculture, tourism, non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and forestry sectors to improve livelihoods for communities living in and around protected areas and conserve biodiversity across the landscape. A six-month feasibility study will determine the specific landscape that will be focused on, and delineate the roles of each partner group.

Improved Market Linkages and Wood Production for Mexican Ejidos
This project is focused in Durango and will provide technical assistance and market linkage support to Mexican Ejidos (Community Foresters) who are working towards sustainability. The project will ensure sound natural resource management and increased economic benefits for producers. The project has funding from USAID and the USDA Forest Service, and was the first forestry project funded under the new Global Development Alliance framework of USAID.

Integrated Management of Forest Products in the Selva Maya
As part of the vision of developing values for forests, we will work with certified operations in the Greater Selva Maya (Mayan Forest -- Mexico, Guatemala, Belize) to increase incomes to community forestry operations through better management practices and improved marketing of xate -- a small forest palm (pronounced "sha-te"). Xate is one of three primary NTFPs found in the Selva Maya forest. Xate is harvested year round and has strong market demand. 80% of the world's supply of xate comes from Mexico and 12% from Guatemala. Work will start on a pilot basis in Guatemala, in the Peten, and then be expanded over the Greater Selva Maya area, to Mexico and possibly Belize.

Certification of La Trinidad Coffee Cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico
La Trinidad coffee cooperative in Oaxaca, Mexico is Fairtrade, Organic, and now Rainforest Alliance Certified. The cooperative consists of hundreds of small farmers and is a model of sustainable coffee farming in Mexico. La Trinidad is a long time supplier of coffee to Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, a progressive and innovative coffee company committed to sustainability. Pronatura Chiapas is the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) representative in Mexico. The SAN is a democratic coalition of non-profit organizations in Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Brazil, working to provide a better world for coffee farmers and their environment.

Finca Santa Elena
Finca Santa Elena was the first coffee farm in Mexico to earn the Rainforest Alliance's certification seal for complying with a rigorous set of standards that go way beyond organic to include protecting the environment as well as supporting the rights and social conditions of workers and the local community.

Eco-Index -- Mexico
Search for conservation projects in Mexico.

Kleinhans Fellowship in Mexico
In 1989, with support from Elysabeth Kleinhans, the Rainforest Alliance began to study the management and use of tropical forest resources that preserve the integrity of the forest ecosystem. One way to do this is to support the limited extraction of forest resources (brazil nuts, fruits, medicinal plants) for sale to local, national and international markets. As a way of supporting the Alliance's work to transform business practices and educate consumers, the Kleinhans Fellows research the ecological, social and business challenges for successful non-timber forest product enterprises.

Previous Kleinhans Fellows have included:

2001-2003	Catarina Illsley Granich Development of a Management Plan for the Production of Mezcal from Maguey Papalotl (Agave cupreata) in Peasant Communities of the Montaña de Guerrero, Mexico.
1999-2001	Silvia E. Purata Conservation and Use of Bursera spp. in the Tropical Dry Forests of Oaxaca: The Role of Markets and Certification in the Management of Non-Timber Forest Products

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