Our Conservation Coast project in the Guatemalan Caribbean protects forests which are a critical migratory corridor for biodiversity, including hundreds of bird species, connecting North and South America.
The project is the world’s largest grouped forest-based carbon project; hundreds of diverse landowners (including governmental, NGO, private and community) have joined to protect 675 parcels of forest making up a total of 54,157 hectares. A truly landscape-scale and community-based project. Activities on the ground to develop sustainable livelihoods include working with local farmers on technical assistance, agriculture inputs and route to market for a variety of sustainably produced commodities such as spices and jungle leaves, as well as developing this beautiful coastline into a thriving eco-tourism hub. The project is critical to local water supply, as municipal water comes from the watershed protected by our project. In addition, protecting forests along coastlines also can help in coastal defence and disaster risk reduction for local communities.
This project is implemented on the ground by the Guatemalan NGO, Fundaeco.
Measurable impacts
We track eight impact areas across this project. Here are the project’s impacts to date:
CLIMATE
Almost 5.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions avoided
ECOSYSTEMS
54,157 hectares of threatened forest protected
SPECIES
30 threatened species protected, including the Baird’s tapir and West Indian manatee
LIVELIHOOD
487 jobs created or supported
INCLUSIVITY
24% of jobs held by women
SUSTAINABLE ENTERPRISE
3 sustainable businesses supported, such as an ecotourism travel hub
FAIR ECONOMIC RETURN
€8.4m contributed to local economy
SUSTAINABLE COMMODITIES
Cardamom, xate (jungle leaf), pepper, rambutan, lychee, cinnamon, timber and ecotourism
Sustainable Development Goals
The Conservation Coast project helps to achieve a number of the UN Sustainable Development Goals:
