Cup of the Community

“The protocol this project applies is easily replicated while maintaining the credibility of the project’s baseline and additionality. The emission reduction from improved forest management projects using the CAR Mexico protocol usually results in projects issuing less than 10,000 tonnes a year, but these are high quality and deliver real benefits to the community. More than 90% of the revenues from sale of carbon flow back directly to the community. We are impressed with the communities’ involvement in the protection and management of the forest.”

– Sid Yadav, Director of Project Research

Project Type: Forestry: Nature-Based Removal

Carbon Standard: CAR

Vintage: 2021

Additionality: Without the incentive of the sale of carbon, the forest would be used for income-generating activities, and the project demonstrates Greenhouse Gas reductions above compliance laws.

Permanence: The Climate Action Reserve requires that the carbon associated with credited GHG removals remains stored for at least 100 years.

Site Visit: October 2024

Mexico’s 65 million hectares of forest are disappearing at the rate of 1 million hectares a year. Indigenous communities own most of the land, highlighting the opportunity to incorporate carbon offset projects and community-based activities and services. The sale of carbon offsets provides additional funds to further these communal activities.

This project mitigates forest exploitation by restoring areas impacted by severe erosion or those affected by disease, fire, and pests; and protects and prevents damage by fires, grazing, and illegal use of forest resources. By implementing Improved Forest Management (IFM) practices, the forest growth rate exceeds both the baseline and natural growth model. These techniques focus on surveillance tours to detect pests and diseases, destroy trees as needed, weed/invasive plant control, and pruning and thinning techniques to guarantee the natural regeneration of healthy and native species.

All members of the community within the activity area are involved in a joint effort to sustainably manage and increase the carbon stocks in the forests. Projects provide education in forest management and monitoring and carbon revenues support a variety of activities to improve the well-being of residents.

• Protects several species of birds, orchids and other rare flowers, wild boars, white-tailed deer, and the puma—all threatened by deforestation.
• Traditional coffee production done by the indigenous community
• Contributes to a model for urgently needed forest conservation throughout Mexico and South America.
• Sustainably manages the forest with a minimal impact on the ecosystem but an extensive contribution to social and economic development.
• Creates jobs for local residents. Without the project, the main revenue source is agriculture with some cattle grazing.
• Provides education on forest management, monitoring and carbon revenue.
• Protects land ownership and revenue ownership rights of the communities and enables people keeps people in rural communities.
• Brings in additional resources to reinvest in the forest.

• Under financial pressure, the forests are likely to be logged to the maximum possible extent
• Obtaining agreement and a majority through a variety of community members can be difficult.
• The forest is at risk of fires or pests.
• Forest conservation is a low priority and not well understood in Mexico.
• The government is not very proactive with forest conservation.
• Providing long-term and sustainable income streams to forest dwellers and their families is challenging.