United Kingdom promotes livelihoods and environmental protection in the Verapaces

The British Ambassador, Nick Whittingham, attended the launch of the project “Indigenous bio cultural landscapes for livelihoods and connectivity in Verapaces”. It will be financed by the Darwin Initiative and the Fund of the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) of the British Government.

The initiative will support the productive livelihoods of 10 Q’eqchís and Poqomchíes indigenous cooperatives, benefiting a total of 4,500 families in the municipality of Senahú Alta Verapaz that are associated with the Federation of Cooperatives of Las Verapaces, Limited Liability -FEDECOVERA, RL. - .

The project is carried out in the Sierra Yalijux of Alta Verapaz, an area of high biodiversity whose protection depends on private nature reserves and remnants of forest that are still within the territories of cooperatives and indigenous communities. The project goals are:

Rescue and recognize the value of biodiversity through stories and ceremonies associated with good practices on the use and management of natural resources and indigenous knowledge about nature.

Improve the income of 4,500 families through sustainable activities in an equitable manner by ethnic group, generation and gender.

Restore forest cover to create biological corridors between fragmented and disturbed forests.

Reduce the carbon footprint in the production of coffee and cardamom by reducing the use of firewood, ecological processing and production in agroforestry systems.

Support women, youth and indigenous communities in alternative livelihoods compatible with nature.

The project has a duration of three years starting September 2022, with financing of £560,000 (approximately 5 million quetzals) from the British government, and a counterpart contribution of £158,000, which makes a total of Q6,462,000 quetzals. It will be implemented by FEDECOVERA, R. L. and the National Association of Private Natural Reserves of Guatemala -ARNPG-, with the support of the University of Greenwich.

Senior authorities from the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (MARN) and the National Council for Protected Areas (CONAP) also attended the launch, who are active partners in the project.