Mitigation of Climate Change through Sustainable Forest Management and Capacity Building in the Southern States of Mexico

Background

In 2007/8 the Government of Mexican and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) developed a proposal for a forestry value chain project. The Community-based Forestry Development Project in the Southern States of Campeche, Chiapas, and Oaxaca, otherwise known as DECOFOS, was the project that emerged from this proposal. 

Goals & Approach

The goal of the DECOFOS project was to improve the living conditions of the rural poor people living in the forest areas of Mexico's southern states of Cameche, Chiapas, and Oaxaca. The project focused on enhancing local capacities and assisting with the development of sustainable businesses in order to improve access to local resources and markets

Reported Takeaways

Over the course of the project's tenure, which lasted from 2010 to 2016, numerous impacts were achieved, including decreasing the number of individuals relying on one dollar or less a day, increased resilience of households and communities, and overall empowerment of individuals. One area of improvement for the project is systemizing the experiences and learning in order to improve knowledge gain.