FrutaSã has its roots in a scoping study of the Brazilian Cerrado eco-region conducted in the 1990s to determine socioeconomic challenges facing smallholder farmers and indigenous communities. Alongside mounting environmental threats to the region, exacerbated by the economic marginalization of the rural communities and subsequent over-exploitation of local resources, these findings insp

Through participatory planning and mapping exercises, the agro-pastoralist Itoh community conserves land around the Kilum mountain forest for grazing and agriculture. This forest fragment had previously been under threat from encroachment for timber harvesting and clearing for agriculture; it is the largest remnant of montane forest in the Bamenda Highlands of Cameroon's Northwest Province. The

Once on the brink of resettlement due to desertification, soil degradation and lack of water, the Abrha Weatsbha community in northern Ethiopia has reclaimed its land through the reforestation and sustainable management of over 224,000 hectares of forest.  Tree planting activities have resulted in improved soil quality, higher crop yields, greater biomass production, groundwater functionin

For more than twenty-five years, the Agencia para el Desarrollo de la Mosquitia (MOPAWI, Agency for the Development of the Mosquitia) has worked to engage local and indigenous communities in the integrated management of the Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve and other protected areas in northeastern Honduras. Located within the Mosquitia area, the reserve contains the largest inta

Alimentos Nutri-Naturales Sociedad Anónima (ANSA) is a group of independent businesses, entirely owned and operated by women, which harvest, process, and sell the abundant and rarely utilized Maya nut (Brosimum alicastrum). The nut was once a staple food for the ancient Mayans but is threatened with extinction due to the spread of logging and conversion of land to agriculture. In the buf

Asociación Bio-Itzá (Bio-Itzá Association) is an indigenous organization of the Mayan Itzá people, located in the Municipality of San José in northern Guatemala, which works to involve local communities and incorporate Mayan cultural traditions in the conservation of regional biodiversity. Legally incorporated in 1991, the association's first major achievement

Asociación Comunitaria “Bolívar Tello Cano” is reducing deforestation by providing a sustainable income-generation activity for local indigenous communities that does not require cutting down trees. The association has worked with researchers to pioneer a technique to extract the essential oils from the seeds of the Palo Santo tree. The oil has commercial value for use in perfumes and foo

Asociación de Apicultores de la Reserva de Tariquía (AART, Tariquía Reserve Beekeepers' Association) is an indigenous honey producer association that has been recognized nationally for producing the best organic honey in Bolivia. The group works within the Tariquía Flora and Fauna National Reserve, a protected area cover

Asociación de Artesanas Unidas de Los Límites (ASOARTESANAS, United Women Artisans' Association of Los Límites) operates in an area of northern Colombia which contains the last remaining population of cotton-top tamarin monkeys on the planet.  The tamarin species faces threats from deforestation, hunting, as well as human capture for sale in the illegal pet trade.

Asociación de Comunidades Forestales de Petén (ACOFOP, Association of Forest Communities of Petén) brings together communities in the buffer zone of the Maya Biosphere Reserve to manage forest concessions that collectively represent the world's largest certified forest area under community management.

The initiative has

Based in the northern Caldas region of Colombia, Asociación de Productores Indígenas y Campesinos (ASPROINCA, Association of Indigenous and Peasant Producers) is a community-based organization that works with close to 350 indigenous farming families to diversify their agricultural production in an environmentally responsible manner.

A key objective of the association is en

Asociación para la Investigación y el Desarrollo Integral (AIDER, Association for Research and Integrated Development) is a participatory initiative that provides capacity building and technology transfer to enable community-based conservation of forest resources across Peru. By providing technical assistance to forest-based communities in both the humid tropical forests of centra

This agroforestry project facilitates a variety of initiatives focused on supporting both family and commercial level agricultural production. Associação dos Pequenos Agrossilvicultores (Association of Smallholder Agroforestry Producers) brings together migrant farmers and indigenous rubber tappers in the Abuna region of northern Brazil. Since 1989, these two groups have worked to

Associação Sociocultural Yawanawá (ASCYAWANAWA, Sociocultural Association of Yawanawá) is a representative body of the Yawanawá indigenous people of Acre state, northern Brazil. The group works to create income generating opportunities for its members through the conservation of the community's indigenous territory and the promotion of Yawanawá culture.

Since 1999, Associação Vida Verde da Amazônia (AVIVE, Green Life Association of Amazonia) has worked on the island of Silves, deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, to build a trade in aromatic soaps, candles, cosmetics, and perfumes containing the oils of medicinal plants such as rosewood and andiroba. By adding value to the raw materials obtained from native forest sp

L’Association Adidy Maitso (Adidy Maitso Association) was established in 2005 with the aim of conserving the natural resources of Didy Forest – a dense moist forest of medium altitude in the Alaotra Mangoro region of eastern Madagascar. The forest lies within the Ankeniheny-Zahamena Corridor, which is renowned for its high species endemism and unique biodiversity. The Association wo

Anja Miray was established in 1999 in response to the degradation and clearing of local forests, the sedimentation of water resources, and the loss of wildlife such as ring-tailed lemurs, chameleons, and tropical birds.  The association operates a 30-hectare community forest reserve in the Haute Matsiatra region of the country. 

The community has established an ecotourism init

Having begun in a few villages in the mid-1990s, Songtaab-Yalgré now brings together more than 3,000 women across ten provinces of Burkina Faso in the harvesting and processing of shea nuts from the tree species Butyrospermum parkii. With the initial aim of improving women's literacy and advocating for improved working conditions, the initiative identified the production of shea nut butt

Equator Prize for Sustainable Land Management in Sub-Saharan Africa

Association Tchadienne des Volontaires pour la Protection de l'Environnement was developed to address land and resource rights for women, in response to drought, desertification, and land degradation, and focuses on training in ecosystem restoration, drought preparedness, an

Located in Nigeria's Cross River State, the Ekuri community manages a 33,600-hectare community forest adjacent to the Cross-River National Park. Community forest management began in the 1980s, when the villages of Old Ekuri and New Ekuri united in response to the proposed logging of their forest. The project would have included the construction of a road linking the villages to local market cen

Founded in 1998 by Brazilian NGOs, the Federal University of Pará, and international donors, and in partnership with private sector companies, Bolsa Amazônia is a regional initiative dedicated to developing sustainable enterprises in rural forest communities of Amazonia. With a focus on sustainable agriculture and agro-industrialization, Bolsa Amazônia assesses market demand for locally-prod

Café la Selva is a chain of cafés that sell organically and sustainably grown coffee from indigenous Tojolabal and Tzeltales farming communities located in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. This pioneering initiative has taken advantage of growing international demand for sustainable, ethically-sourced coffee, and now has cafés in Europe and the United States. Profits from the enterprise have al

The Camalandaan Agroforestry Farmers' Association works to conserve fragments of lowland limestone forest on the Philippines island of Negros through on-farm tree conservation in the Southern Cauayan Municipal Forest and Watershed Reserve. The association is made up of local farmers who have been allocated rights to plots of land by the government as part of a community-based forest management

Capitania del Alto y Bajo Izozog (CABI, Captaincy of the Upper and Lower Izozog) represents more than 10,000 members of Bolivia's Izoceño-Guaraní people in a landmark co-management agreement in the country's Gran Chaco region. With technical support from the Wildlife Conservation Society, CABI negotiated with the Bolivian government for establishment of the 3.4 million-hectare Kaa

Working in the caatinga ecosystem of northeastern Brazil, Carnaúba Viva has introduced innovative means of sustainably managing the carnauba tree (Copernicia prunifera), a locally-abundant palm species whose leaves can be used for wax production. Working with the indigenous people of the Jaguaribe-Açu territory and in partnership with the Brazilian Ministry of Environment, the initiative has

The Center for Empowerment and Resource Development works in the Caraga region of the Philippines to conserve marine and coastal resources while improving the sustainability of local fisher livelihoods. The Centre's approach has been to put management of natural resources squarely in the hands of fisherfolk associations, working with local governments to develop barangay resolutions, municipal

Centre de Ressources en Agroforesterie de Riba (Riba Agroforestry Resource Centre) is a community-based organization working in mountainous northwest Cameroon, close to Kilum-Ijim Mountain Forest. The Centre promotes sustainable tree-based farming to rehabilitate watersheds and degraded land and generate income for the local community. A rural resource centre provides training in agroforestry a

To combat high rural unemployment and the outflow of farmers to urban centres, Centre d’Appui au Developpement Integral Mbankana (CADIM, Mbankana Centre for Integrated Development) trains farmers in agroforestry and afforestation techniques that restore soil fertility and boost agricultural production. The group’s afforestation efforts have reduced exploitative pressure on the

This research institute, based in the Brazilian state of Acre, devised a method for the artisanal processing of raw latex obtained from Hevea brasiliensis rubber trees, suitable for small-scale production in forest-based communities of indigenous rubber tappers in the Brazilian Amazon. Replicating the technology is a highly individualized process, taking into account the social and cultural set

Chalalán Albergue Ecológico (Chalalán Eco-lodge) serves as a model for community-based ecotourism in Bolivia, as an example of the effectiveness of this low-impact commercial activity in bringing benefits to local communities and in conserving vital biological diversity. Supported by the Inter-American Development Bank and Conservation International, who founded the initiat

The village community of Bigodi, near Fort Portal, western Uganda, straddles an eight kilometre stretch of papyrus wetland that is home to an abundance of wildlife. Eight primate species and more than 200 bird species draw tourists from neighbouring Kibale Forest National Park, for which the Bigodi swamp forms an important wildlife corridor. Through the work of Chama Cha Maendeleo Ya Vijiji Na

Chibememe Earth Healing Association (CHIEHA) is a community-based initiative centered on the small village of Chibememe, in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. Arising in response to habitat destruction and deforestation in the Zivambava Island forest and the Chibememe mainland forest, the organization’s work has been driven by the 17 households that make up Chibememe community. Its work has spr

The Chunoti Co-Management Committee (CMC) protects the once-degraded Chunoti Wildlife Sanctuary through the coordination of volunteer patrols and reinvestment of ecotourism revenues into conservation activities.  Illegal logging and unsustainable resource extraction were threatening the Chunoti forest.  The community mobilized and advocated for a protected area co-management arrangeme

This collective brings together women’s groups from communities bordering the Popenguine Nature Reserve, a 1,000-hectare coastal reserve located in the Thies region of Senegal. Since the creation of the reserve in 1986 to prevent over-harvesting of marine resources and degradation of mangrove forests, the park’s authorities have sought to involve local communities in its management.

This women-led initiative arose in 1998 in response to the devastating effects of Hurricane Mitch on sixteen agrarian Garifuna communities. These peoples of Afro-indigenous descent have traditionally been socioeconomically marginalized in Honduras, and their agricultural livelihoods were hard hit by the loss of 70% of the country's crops due to heavy flooding.

Beyond initial disaster re

In a coastal region of Honduras that has some of the highest rates of poverty in Latin America and that is facing severe environmental threats from the shrimp farming, sugar cane, and commercial fishing industries, Comité para la Defensa y Desarrollo de la Flora y Fauna del Golfo de Fonseca (CODDEFFAGOLF) has been a force for positive change over the last 20 years. With a focus on protec

After a devastating bush fire in 1973, the village of Ando Kpomey created a green belt buffer around its community that has grown into a 100-hectare forest.  A participatory management committee has been established to monitor the forest and its resources and to regulate its use.  The community authorizes limited resource extraction to meet livelihood needs – both timber and non

The CBIRD Centre in the village of Sub Tai, in the Pak Chong District of north-eastern Thailand, is one of many such centres across the country, launched by Thailand's Population and Community Development Association in the mid-1980s. These Community-Based Integrated Rural Development Centres confront the twin challenges of low economic development and biodiversity loss through the participatio

An indigenous community conserved area, Comunidad Indígena de Manquemapu (Indigenous Community of Manquemapu) works to promote sustainable forest management and marine resource conservation as a way of meeting the economic needs of resident indigenous communities. Born in response to external threats from extractive industries, this community-based group manages a large area of alerche f

The town of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro is located in the western part of the Mexican state of Michoacán; its name refers to the destruction of the original San Juan Parangaricutiro during the eruption of the Parícutin volcano in 1943. Since 1982, local indigenous Purépecha community members have been engaged in sustainable timber and non-timber forest extraction and pro

La Comunidad Nativa Ese’eja de Infierno (Ese'eja Native Community of Infierno) was the first community to take advantage of Peru's law of native communities within the state of Madre de Dios, receiving legal title to 9,558 hectares of land on both sides of the Tambopata River in the late 1970s. As a condition of defending their lands in the 1980s, the community was obliged to set aside ro

In the heart of one of the most biodiverse areas of Bolivia, Consejo Indígena del Pueblo Tacana has secured collective land title to more than 389,300 hectares of forest for the Tacana people. After successfully presenting their land claim to the government of Bolivia, the group built consensus on land use and natural resource management amongst the 20 commun

Consejo Regional Tsimané Mosetene (CRTM, Tsimané Mosetene Regional Council of Pilón Lajas) works in Bolivia's Biosphere Reserve to conserve biodiversity and to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples within the Reserve. The Regional Council jointly manages the Reserve with Bolivia's National Service of Protected Areas.

In addition to safeguarding wildlife in th

With the aim of sustainably managing local forests, the Conservation Area Management Committee, Parche is applying indigenous knowledge to local environment and development challenges. In addition to establishing tree nurseries and working with communities to harvest non-timber forest products (NTFPs), the organization has reduced wildlife poaching and is providing alternative energy access for

Since 1998, the Conservation Society of Pohnpei (CSP) has worked to improve the ecological and social sustainability of a network of seven marine protected areas around the island of Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia. Through environmental education and biological monitoring programmes, the initiative has coordinated marine conservation efforts across Pohnpei, while encouraging a di

Since 1995, the biologically diverse Collingwood Bay area on the coast of Oro Province, north-eastern Papua New Guinea, has been the setting for a conflict between the province's 3,000 indigenous Maisin people and proposed commercial logging and palm oil development within the community's 262,000 hectares of ancestral lands. In 1998, 38,000 hectares of tropical forest were fraudulently signed o

Cooperativa dos Produtos de Ostras de Cananéia (Cooperostra, Oyster Producers’ Cooperative of Cananéia) is a community-based organization centered on the Mandira Extractive Reserve in São Paulo's Cananéia estuary lagoon. Launched in the mid-1990s following state-led interventions aiming at improving the sustainability, viability, and hygienic quality of artisan

Corporación Serraniagua (Serraniagua Corporation) works to ensure the connectivity of protected areas throughout Colombia's Cordillera Occidental mountain range, a key component of the Chocó-Manabí Conservation Corridor. The group connects the conservation corridors of the Tatamá National Park and Serrania de los Paraguas (renowned for their high biodiversity and spe

Couro Vegetal da Amazônia began operating in the Brazilian state of Acre in 1996, in an attempt to improve the livelihood opportunities and wellbeing of Amazonian rubber-tapping communities. This project brought together more than 200 local and indigenous families in three forest communities, providing training in an innovative processing method to produce sheets of vulcanized rubber. Thi

The Empresa Forestal Integrada de Bayamo (Integrated Forestry Enterprise of Bayamo) is a state-run forest enterprise operating in the Cuban province of Granma. In 1999, Granma was one of two pilot sites for the ecological forest farms (Fincas Forestales Ecológicas) initiative, which put reforestation of Cuba's Cauto River basin in the hands of smallholder farmers.

The working mod

The Farmers' Association for Rural Upliftment (FARU) is an initiative of the Chananaw indigenous people of Kalinga Province in the Philippines. The initiative aims to protect the environmental integrity of the Chananaw's ancestral domain through improved land management and more efficient agricultural techniques. Catalysts for the formation of the initiative included large-scale mining and geot

Federacion Plurinacional de Turismo Comunitario del Ecuador (FEPTCE, Multinational Federation of Community Tourism in Ecuador) brings together indigenous communities across Ecuador that offer tourism, guiding and lodging services. The initiative has especially targeted the country's indigenous, Afro-Ecuadorian, peasant, and montubio (mestizo) communities, who are traditional stewards of Ecuador

Since 2005, this federation of women's economic interest groups, centered on the island of Niodior, has worked to rehabilitate mangrove ecosystems and promote natural resource management in the Saloum Delta Biosphere Reserve. The group was founded in response to multiple pressures on the reserve's mangrove and marine resources, and a 22-woman monitoring committee was established to regulate the

The Fédération Régionale des Groupements de Promotion Féminine de la Région de Ziguinchor (FRGPF-Z) has worked since the late 1980s in southwestern Ziguinchor, in a region known as Lower Casamance. The region's wealth of vegetation makes it an important forest reserve in Senegal, including the country's largest population of mangroves.

Twin threats of

Fikambanan’ny Terak’i Manambolo (FITEMA, Association of Manambolo Natives) has used the reintroduction of an indigenous land use system to help conserve forests and wetlands in the 7,500-hectare Manambolo Valley – a forest corridor which joins the Andringitra and Ranomafana National Parks – while improving food security for local communities. The valley's forests are hom

In 1975, Kahuzi-Biega National Park expanded from 60,000 to 600,000 hectares of forest in eastern DRC. The newly-incorporated lowland forest was home to the endangered Eastern Lowland gorilla (Gorilla Beringei graueri), as well as many indigenous Batwa communities. These communities were forcefully relocated by the expansion of the park, depriving them of a source of local livelihoods, food, an

This trans-border indigenous peoples alliance came together in 2004 to build on the shared historical and cultural bonds between the Lundayeh, Kelabit, Lun Bawang, and Sa'ban peoples living in the highlands of the heart of Borneo. The Alliance of the Indigenous Peoples of the Highlands in the Heart of Borneo (FORMADAT) aims to integrate conservation and development at the landscape level and to

Fundación para la Agricultura Tropical Alternativa y el Desarrollo Integral (FUNDATADI, Foundation for Alternative Tropical Agriculture and Sustainable Development) works with rural Piedemonte Andino communities in Barinas, Venezuela, with the aim of conserving local forests while promoting sustainable community development. Agricultural diversification is promoted through the organic cu

Responding to local deforestation pressures on the area surrounding the headwaters of the Nosara River, a source of drinking water and of wellbeing for the inhabitants of the small town of Hojancha in the central highlands of the Nicoya peninsula, local farmers came together in 1994 to enhance local forest conservation and create the co-managed Monte Alto Protected Zone. This 924-hectare area w

Fundación San Crisanto (San Crisanto Foundation) focuses on mangrove restoration and flood prevention in a region that consistently faces heavy rainfall and flooding. Since the Foundation's establishment, over 11,300 metres of canals have been restored, and 45 cenotes have been delisted and rehabilitated. As a result, flood risk is reduced and populations and diversity of endemic wildlif

Formed in response to a 1998 Lashihai dam project that flooded large areas of farmland and left the Yi indigenous people displaced, Green Watershed has become a model of indigenous self-organization and participatory watershed management. The group responded to displacement by founding four autonomous organizations for sustainable resource management, each of which have achieved remarkable resu

The Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme, better known by its Swahili acronym HASHI (Hifadhi Ardhi Shinyanga) ran from 1986 to 2004, with the aim of restoring the degraded Shinyanga region of northwest Tanzania. Christened the "Desert of Tanzania" in the mid-1980s by President Julius Nyerere, the region's miombo woodland had been decimated by decades of forest clearing (partly for tsetse fly e

The Amani Nature Reserve was created to protect the unique, biologically important sub-montane forest ecosystem of Tanzania's East Usambara Mountains. The biosphere reserve covers an area of about 83,600 hectares, and is home to a number of human settlements as well as unique and endemic biodiversity. These communities have been actively engaged in the management of the reserve since its establ

Fiji’s Sisi Initiative manages natural resources around the periphery of the Natewa Tunuloa Important Bird Area.  The organization has established a 600-hectare community protected forest and developed alternative livelihood options for the area’s indigenous landowners.  Developed in response to illegal logging, forest fires, overgrazing, agricultural encroachment and inva

Since the late-1970s, local NGO Asociación ANAI has promoted sustainable farming practices in rural communities living within the Talamanca region of Costa Rica. Home to one-third of the country's indigenous people, the canton ranks lowest in many key socioeconomic indicators, including human development, yet is home to some of the country's richest biodiversity. This natural heritage wa

Instituto Raoni is the organizational face of the Kayapó, a Brazilian indigenous group that is leading the fight against unfettered deforestation of the Amazon. The group uses an innovative media strategy called the 'video warriors' project to document illegal logging in their territory and increase accountability in the most remote regions of the Amazon rainforest. Instituto Raoni also

In 1993, the Government of Tanzania designated the Suledo Forest as a Central Government Forest Reserve, in an attempt to stem the overexploitation of forest resources in this 167,400-ha stretch of miombo woodland. This move, made without prior local consultation, resulted in the disenfranchisement of nine neighbouring forest-dependent Maasai villages.

These communities resisted the new

The Kangmei Institute of Community Development and Marketing assists villagers in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River in China to establish farmer cooperatives and resource management plans that promote the sustainable harvesting of wild herbs and protect giant panda bear habitats.  The unsustainable extraction of medicinal plants has historically had a negative impact on pandas

Operating adjacent to Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, one of Uganda’s oldest rainforests and home to 50 percent of the world’s mountain gorillas, Kayonza Growers Tea Factory is a for-profit community enterprise, 100 percent owned by its 7,205 smallholder tea farmers. Facing deforestation, wetland encroachment, soil degradation, and water shortages, the initiative has worked to en

On an archipelago off the east coast of Sumatra that has been devastated by tin mining and unmitigated industrial development, Kelompok Peduli Lingkungan Belitung is working to rehabilitate, protect, and sustainably manage coastal resources. Community management of coral reefs, mangroves, fishing zones, and tropical forests has led to improved livelihoods and the restoration of a unique marine

The Kerala Kani Community Welfare Trust is the result of an innovative partnership between a community of the indigenous Kani people, based in the Western Ghats, Kerala, and a private institute that has developed a medicinal product using local genetic resources and traditional knowledge. The discovery of the medicinal qualities of the Arogyapacha plant (Trichopus zeylanicus) was based on its l

Kijabe Environment Volunteers (KENVO) has worked with rural communities on the Kikuyu Escarpment in Kenya since 1996, with a primary focus on forest conservation and reforestation in response to human pressures on the escarpment's forests. The organization has evolved beyond this initial focus, however, into a flexible delivery mechanism for donor-funded interventions and a powerful vehicle for

This community-based organization has worked since 1990 to conserve wetlands and biodiversity in and around Saiwa Swamp National Park, home to approximately 25 per cent of Kenya's vulnerable Grey Crowned Crane population. During the 1980s eucalyptus cultivation resulted in drainage of the swamp and damage to habitats.

The catalyst for reversing these trends came from a leader of the loc

Komunitas Adat Muara Tae is a community of Dayak people in Kalimantan fighting for the protection of their customary forests.  Of their original 11,000 hectares of land, only 4,000 hectares remain, the rest having been lost to illegal clear-cutting by palm oil, mining, and logging companies. Through community mapping, demarcation of their traditional territory, and advocacy with government

The Komunitas Ngata Toro's 22,300 hectares of traditional lands lie partly within Lore Lindu National Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve located on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. Since 1993, two local organizations have worked to strengthen traditions, customary laws, and local institutions for sustainable use of forest, land and water resources.

The Organization for the Indigenous Wo

Founded by Mayan women, Koolel-Kab/Muuchkambal is an organic farming and agroforestry initiative that works on forest conservation (they established a 5,000-hectare community forest), promoting indigenous land rights, environmental education, and community-level disaster risk reduction strategies. The association advocates for public policies that stop deforestation and offer alternatives to in

Kwetu Training Centre is based in Kenya's coastal district of Kilifi, where it uses a model demonstration site and extensive youth group engagement to promote sustainable environmental management of the coast's mangrove forests. This has incorporated voluntary reforestation efforts and the development of silviculture activities based around the mangrove ecosystems, such as crab farming, bee kee

Started in 2005 to improve recognition of indigenous pygmies rights in Congolese legislation, La Dynamique des Groupes des Peuples Autochtones is a network of 43 indigenous peoples organizations from across the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The group has lobbied for a legal framework in the DRC that promotes and protects the rights of indigenous peoples. In an ambitious 2014 campaign, the

The village of Phu An, located north of Saigon, was heavily bombed during the Viet Nam War. Làng tre Phú An (Bamboo Village of Phu An) has created an Eco-Museum of Bamboo and Botanical Conservatory with the aim of conserving biodiversity, protecting the region's bamboo forests, andhelping to "transform the iron triangle into a green triangle." The initiative carries out conservati

Mara River Water Users Association is a community-based water resources management organization whose primary objectives are to promote the protection and conservation of the Mara Catchment area, support the sustainable and efficient use of water, assist relevant authorities with water resources management and issuance of water use permits, and water conflict resolution.

The Association

This coalition of Maya organizations and leaders collectively work to promote the long-term wellbeing of the Maya people and to defend collective rights to their territories. The alliance achieved a landmark legal victory in 2015, which affirmed that the 39 Q’eqchi and Mopan Maya indigenous communities of southern Belize have rights to the lands that they have historically used and occupi

The Medicinal Plants Conservation Centre encourages conservation, supports local livelihoods, and improves the health of rural communities in the Indian state of Maharashtra, focusing on the revitalization of traditional health practices and the use of medicinal plants. In cooperation with the state Forest Department, and with local communities in the lead, MPCC uses nurseries and commercial he

The MESCOT initiative works in forest rehabilitation, ecotourism, and invasive species eradication to improve livelihood options for the community of Batu Puteh, in the Lower Kinabatangan region of Malaysia. This area has been documented on many occasions as a site of mega-biodiversity and stands out due to its high concentrations of lowland wildlife, particularly large mammals and primates –

Monks Community Forest is an 18,261 ha area of evergreen forest in northwest Cambodia. In response to widespread deforestation, the monks of the Samraong Pagoda acquired legal protection of the forest, and have established patrol teams, demarcated the Forest's boundaries, and raised environmental awareness among local communities. The monks have developed unique approaches to law enforcement ba

Facing a proposal by the Brazilian government to build a large dam complex on the Tapajós River that would submerge their vast territories, which span one million hectares of primary rainforest, the Munduruku of the Brazilian Amazon formed a resistance movement called Ipereg Ayu. Ipereg Ayu, in local language, means “I am strong, I know how to protect myself”.  Designed

Mradi Wa Mfuko Wa Dhamana Ya Hifadhi Ya Mazingira Na Wamasai Jangwani (MWCT, Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust) preserves the wilderness, wildlife, and cultural heritage of the Amboseli-Tsavo ecosystem – an important migration corridor between two national parks.  The organization of Maasai communities has mitigated unsustainable practices such as overgrazing and water-intens

Between 1998 and 2003, this IUCN-led intervention in the Rufiji Delta area of Tanzania worked through the Rufiji District Council to develop village environment management plans in consultation with local communities. The project oversaw the effective transfer of resource management authority from the central government to four pilot villages comprising communities in the floodplain and delta a

This national network of community-based forest management groups provides capacity building, communications, and advocacy support for local communities with the aim of improving their participation in the management and utilization of local forests. Mtandao wa Jamii wa Usimamizi wa Misitu Tanzania (MJUMITA) is a constantly expanding federation that has 80 affiliated community networks and memb

Muliru Farmers Conservation Group is a community-based organization located near Kakamega Forest in western Kenya. The group generates income through the commercial cultivation and secondary processing of an indigenous medicinal plant, to produce the Naturub® brand of medicinal products.

The enterprise reduces pressure on the biodiverse Kakamega Forest by offering an alternative to the

An indigenous federation that represents the Miskitus of the Honduran Mosquitia, MASTA works to protect indigenous territorial rights and culture, strengthen local governance and natural resource management, and improve regional health and education systems.  The group protects a large part of the remaining intact rainforest in Honduras, approximately 1.2 million hectares or 7 percent of t

Located in the remote northern province of Luang Namtha on Lao PDR's border with China, the 222,400-hectare Nam Ha National Protected Area includes some of the country's most significant wilderness areas. Altitudes range from river valleys and plains to northern highland peaks, supporting a broad range of habitats and biodiversity.

Since 1999, conservation efforts in the area have been

With 912,000 ha of communal land, N?a Jaqna Conservancy combines the sustainable management of endemic wildlife and natural resources with the empowerment of Namibia's !Kung San people. (The symbols '?' and '!' represent distinct click sounds unique to Khoisan languages.) Established as a conservancy in 2003, the organization trains local !Kung San as wildlife managers, committee members, and g

Uaxactún is an ancient archaeological site in the heart of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, popular with tourists for its ancient ruins. Its 140 mestizo and indigenous families primarily subsist on non-timber forest products such as edible fruits, gum resin and palm leaves; their sustainable management of forest resources over the past eighty years has complemen

Pederasyon sa Nagkahiusang mga Mag-uuma nga Nanalipud ug Nagpasig-uli sa Kinaiyahan (PENAGMANNAK) is a federation of seventeen peoples' organizations – self-help groups or cooperatives – working to conserve biodiversity in the Mt. Talinis area of Negro Oriental province. With their roots in the Mt. Talinis and Twin Lakes Biodiversity Conservation project (1996-1999), these groups' early act

This community-based organization operates in the forests of the Malaysian state of Sarawak. While the customary land rights of the association's indigenous Kayan people are recognized by the Malaysian government, many lands have not been officially demarcated, making them vulnerable to conflicting claims from outside interests. Members of the association work with GIS survey and mapping techno

This community-based organization was founded in the mid-1980s to reverse the effects of destructive mangrove harvesting near the coastal village of Pred Nai. A parallel goal was the recovery of local crab populations, which are an important source of income for poorer members of the community. After developing a strong track-record of successful forest management and ecosystem restoration, the

Working to protect a 500,000-hectare forest in the Cambodian lowlands – the largest primary lowland evergreen forest remaining in the country – Prey Lang Community Network is an alliance of indigenous Kuy communities that is using communications technologies to document forest crime. Since 2007, the network has advocated against illegal logging and large

Programa de Campesino a Campesino has operated throughout Nicaragua since the post-war period of the early 1990s, as part of the worldwide Via Campesina movement which advocates for food sovereignty, agrarian reform, and democratic governance of food production systems.

The Farmer-to-Farmer Program in the northern municipality of Siuna is one of sixty-five such programs in Nicaragua whi

The Proyecto Nasa (Nasa Project) aims to increase the political and organizational capacity of Colombia's indigenous Páez peoples, who have been disproportionately affected by violence in the Cauca region. By strengthening regional political autonomy and exercising their political rights, the indigenous groups involved in the project have successfully lobbied for access to a greater shar

In 1996, six women from the small communities of Tanado and Samurindo in the Chocó Region of Colombia partnered with an environmental NGO to add value to the harvesting and processing of aromatic and medicinal plants. Low prices and the time spent in collecting these plants made this traditional livelihood a relatively unproductive activity. With training and funding support, this women