Preserving the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor in Guatemala
Context
The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor stretches across Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, and some southern states of Mexico, connecting habitats and areas of tropical forest together. This corridor acts as a natural land bridge from South America to North America, allowing the movement of species between them. The corridor is home to multiple diverse biomes and contains between 7-10% of the world’s species.
Forests within this area in Guatemala are important nationally and internationally for the ecosystem services they provide. However they have experienced a continued reduction in biomass due largely to deforestation by small-scale farmers and medium to large scale cattle ranchers that have sought to expand their activities or have been displaced by agro-industrial expansion.
Project
This REDD+ avoided unplanned deforestation project is located in the Department of Izabal in the Caribbean coast region of Guatemala. It sets out to address the issue of deforestation in Guatemala at a local level and protect and restore 54,157 hectares of forest.
The project objectives are threefold: to mitigate climate change by reducing deforestation; to contribute to biodiversity conservation; and to foster the sustainable development of local communities. It will work to reduce CO2 emissions that result from the conversion of intact forest to agricultural and pastoral land by protecting existing areas of forest, establishing areas of reforestation, reducing illegal logging and providing alternative revenue streams from forest production e.g. sustainable agroforestry.
The project zone is considered one of the country’s biodiversity hotspots. This work will ensure the maintenance and restoration of habitat for viable, abundant and biodiverse natural populations and reduce threats to rare and endangered species.
The project also has community objectives, such as providing full access to reproductive health information and care for local women, and ensuring sufficient household income for local people is provided from sustainable practices. Since its inception, local communities have been actively participating in the project’s formulation and implementation. The early involvement of participating communities has created awareness among community members and readiness for project implementation.
Verification
This project is verified by the Verified Carbon Standard and the Climate, Community & Biodiversity Standards. You can view it on the Verra Registry here.
Climate solution #38
Forest protection
In their biomass and soil, forests are powerful carbon storehouses. Protection prevents emissions from deforestation, shields that carbon, and enables ongoing carbon sequestration.
For each hectare of forest protected, the threat of deforestation and degradation is removed. By protecting an additional 335-466 million hectares of forest, this solution could avoid carbon dioxide emissions totaling 5.5-8.8 gigatons by 2050. Perhaps more importantly, this solution could bring the total protected forest area to almost 0.98-1.1 billion hectares, securing an estimated protected stock of 179-203 gigatons of carbon, roughly equivalent to over 655-743 gigatons of carbon dioxide if released into the atmosphere.
The benefits of forest conservation include biodiversity protection, non-timber products, erosion control, pollination, ecotourism and other ecosystem services.