Bosque Antiguo AC

Mexico City, Mexico

An Overview Of Our Solution

Our project about the reintroduction of the Scarlet Macaw began in 2013, in the communities of the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, in the municipality of Catemaco. This species was extirpated from the region 40 years ago because of extraction for the pet market. The communities reacted with interest but also hoped to receive some benefits. We have used the Scarlet Macaw as an ambassador species and we have these results: there is more awareness of the importance of recovering lost biodiversity and improving wildlife habitats, and in sustainable productive activities, like the recovery of native tree species with potential use either timber or fruit. The best strategy we have found has been to combine quick-return crops such as plantain / cacao with long term tree growth, and benefits to biodiversity with the engagement of local communities

Who is this solution impacting?

Community Type

Suburban

Organization type

Nonprofit

Ecosystem (select all that apply)

Forests

Population impacted

25,000

Size of agricultural area

Increments of 160 hectares/year

Production quantity

1300 KG/ha in average

People employed

Describe your solution

In 2013, we began a work to raise awareness and knowledge exchange with local communities. We chose those communities that have shown to reach agreements among them, and to undertake their own conservation and sustainable activities (ecotourism). In 2014 we began the project to reintroduce the Scarlet Macaw, from individuals provided by a reproductive colony in captivity (Xcaret). To date we have had 5 releases at three sites in the Reserve (La Otra Option, Nanciyaga and Benito Juárez). We have visited 30 communities in the buffer zone of the Reserve and attended to 50 schools to socialize the achievements and importance of the project. A sense of pride has arisen for having earned this opportunity. Today there are more than 100 macaws flying and establishing this new wild population. To ensure that the macaws are fully established, we need to recover the habitat, so there will be enough food for them and for other wildlife, and that there will be also nesting sites. At the same time this solution should favor people and communities, and growing shaded cocoa is the best option we have found since it is a crop that generates additional profits. We have worked by establishing two community nurseries of native trees and using these seedlings to widen the live fences of pastures at least 10 meters and we also have worked around the springs to protect them.

Describe your implementation

We have established two community nurseries to date, each with more than 2000 seedlings of 20 species of native timber and / or fruit trees. For this we have gathered knowledge of the peasants and botanists of the Institute of Biology of the UNAM, to ensure success in the germination / transplant processes. The seed bank of the soil is very polluted, and most of these plants are recalcitrant seeds, so it is essential to take the seeds of the mother trees and to germinate them without pause, only in this way we keep the germplasm alive. Through meetings with the ejidatarios (peasants) we have started with those possessors who voluntarily wanted to take the plants and participate in the agroforestry / cocoa / conservation of macaws activities. We have worked with 50 of these volunteers, widenning the fringes of the live fences with our trees including all the species (and cacao). One problem in our plan was to ensure that the seedlings would survive the transplant and become healthy and large trees. Being contiguous to pastures, the same seedlings would need protection from cows, so the reforestation / agroforestry strips needed barbed wire. Another problem is that seedlings need shade to grow healthy. So we set up a combined system of pioneering plants with slow growth plants in shade. The next problem is that although peasants are interested in trees and their advantage, many of them like hardwoods take longer to grow, so they could lose interest, then with the introduction of cocoa, plantain, and softwoods we can ensure rapid growth and then short term benefits, an ¡d they are definitely mor einterested. The main problem we have is limited funds, but we hope to start marketing products (from the 4 years of the agroforestry project). Another problem they have mentioned is the presence of pests there, in addition to the strategy of multispecies crops, we will have to activate management actions for each situation that is presented.

External connections

We currently have excellent relationships with the management of the Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve (CONANP), and we support 4 communities in their request for ecological stoves. Previously this Reserve has supported the reintroduction project of the red macaw (2014 and 2016) and with this support we were able to evaluate the vegetation as a food source for the macaws, and to make extensive campaigns in schools of all levels of education (kindergarten to preparatory) . At the state level, we have received support from the Secretariat for the Environment. However, due to budget cuts, we do not expect to have much of this share this year. As explained earlier in the case of the forest sector is not possible because peasants on average have very few hectares and do not meet the requirements of these calls.

What is the environmental or ecological challenge you are targeting with your solution?

Our challenge is at the same time to promote a better quality of life for peasants through agroforestry and conservation of native birds (in particular the Scarlet Macaw, which has returned to the region thanks to a reintroduction project started in 2013). Although multispecies growths are known to be better for biodiversity, very little of this is being done in the land. For example, the majority of the ejidatarios in this municipality practice at the same time the small agriculture and the small cattle raising and collect fruits of the native trees and of some introduced ones (nanche, mango, citrus), but almost all of its production is self-subsistence and retail. Only the palm and pepper are extracted to export. But these few productive chains leave very little economic benefits to the peasants. The cultivation of shaded cacao is very promising because it will help increase the vegetation cover, between cocoa and more native trees, and the farmers can obtain the cash

Describe the context in which you are operating

Catemaco is one of the municipalities of Los Tuxtlas Biosphere Reserve, Veracruz. This protected area houses the most northerly rainforest of the American Continent. However, this reserve has lost much of the original ecosystem in the plains, and its main forest areas are in the mountains and ravines that almost reach the sea.
The transformation of these forests into agricultural fields first, and then exotic pastures took place in the past 50 years. Now the original vegetation remains in 35% of the area. Although wildlife has been undermined constantly (subsistence hunting), there is still a rich biodiversity, and wild populations could recover if vegetation cover was increase to 50% or more, and if patches of the remaining vegetation could be connected. This can be achieved through agroforestry.
Catemaco is one of the poorest municipalities in Veracruz, its development is stagnant and more than half of its population receives federal and local subsidies. These subsidies are going to decline because of the government's financial crisis. Veracruz is not part of the Mesoamerican Biotic Corridor, therefore it does not participate in the programs that encourage the connection of habitats for biodiversity, but much work in this regard is needed.
In the ejidos of Catemaco there is much inequality, and there are no sources of employment. Most families can survive because they can harvest fruits, tubers, have a small farm and a few cows. But they only cover their basic needs.

How did you impact natural resource use and greenhouse gas emissions?

We have used the Scarlet Macaw as an ambassador species and it has worked quite well, because it is very clear that it is a very beautiful bird and was lost, many do not remember that it existed there. It has been easy to work with this species, because captive groups, with careful protocols, have been able to adapt to wildlife again. Macaws play an important role in trophic cascades because they foster the diversity of forests by consuming the most common species, and dispersing seeds. We have been able to better communicate the importance of biodiversity and thus benefit other species. We are now occupying the Scarlet Macaw to facilitate the recovery of habitats for many species through agroforestry, and the formation of corridors between patches of the reserve for a goal of improving vegetation cover to 50% in this municipality.

Language(s)

Spanish

Water

The reforestation / agroforestry activities we have carried out have also been untertken near springs to protect them from deterioration. The area is undergoing a climatic transformation due to deforestation. The so-called "nortes" have diminished, as well as the rains in general reason why it is important to support reforestation. Yet it is still a region rich in this element.

Food Security/Nutrition

Cacao was domesticated in Mexico and other parts of our continent, and it was given to the world, and yet this country is no longer included in the largest cocoa producers (Cote d'Ivoire is). However, even Mexico has the best Creole varieties, so it is very important to recover them live and encourage this crop cultivation. The benefits of chocolate and its acceptance are well recognized, but Mexicans almost do not consume it, that tradition has been lost. So, in this side this project is import

Economic/Sustainable Development

This project is very important for the region because the producers are abandoned and they do not have the means to get organized, in fact there has been a lot of migration in the area to other agricultural areas of the country. The situation is so deplorable that for example people who have unused paddocks, continue cleaning them because "if they are made jungle the government will take it from them" They do not find alternatives and they are still there. Given that cocoa can yield to them in t

Climate

This project will not depend on government subsidies because they are not available for this region, or on this scale. It will depend on Grants for its start, because we need to facilitate the acquisition of good cocoa seeds, and the maintenance of the nurseries and also some of the fences. Some plants (of grafts) begin to produce a year and a half, so we hope that with these plants the farmers can expand their agroforestry plans and be sustainable

Sustainability

In the beginnig we rely on grant funding, because we need to be in the ground for all aspectes of the project and our institutions cover only salaries and other support but for operation we really need other sources. As Veracruz is not part of the Corredor Biotico Mesoamericano, we cannot rely of government subsidies, and also because their a financial crisis that is affectn the environment sector. But returns from these activites can come very fast so we expect more market-based revenue in the short terma to maintain the project.

Return on investment

In the four years of work we have invested a lot but are not plannig to receive it back, rather these are benefits for the region. For example, in the reintroduction of the macaws, Xcaret invests about 250K dollars/year or more with the groups that have donated (136 macaws to date). The UNAM invests through its researcher and students uncalculated amounts. And the Nanciyaga Reserve (project operating site) similar amounts. As for what we have invested additionally in nurseries, and reforestation / agroforestry strips, we can say that it was about $ 40,000 in the two years that we have carried out this activity by linking shade cocoa / communities / reintroduction of macaws.

How could we successfully replicate this solution elsewhere?

We are very interested in replicating this experience. Currently we work with 4 ejidos: Benito Juárez, Miguel Hidalgo, Dos Amates and Ojochiapan. But we can say that all 30 ejidos of the municipality are interested. We would like to expand and would need basically operating costs (gas, stipends, materials). On the other hand, we are also contacting communities that do ecotourism in the chinanteca area of Oaxaca, the Papaloapan basin that is close to the Los Tuxtlas Reserve, where this formula will be very easy to prelate, given that it is the appropriate ecological zone for macaws. These areas of the plains are the most urgent to deal with solutions for biodiversity / communities.

Overview