Success, Transformation, and Resilience: Stories from Mesoamerican Territories
These stories are living testimonies of the transformative impact of direct investment in the territories of Mesoamerica. They reflect how Indigenous Peoples and local communities, as guardians of forests, mangroves, and oceans, lead with ancestral wisdom, organizational structures, and self-managed resources to implement the most effective solutions for conservation, sustainable management, and climate action in our communities and territories. Territorial investment is more than just a flow of resources; it is a recognition of our historical work and a catalyst for the empowerment of our communities. Rooted in our deep connection to the land, we demonstrate that true solutions lie in the strength of our organized actions and our resilience to build a sustainable future for all.
Costa Rica
Nairi Awari: A territory that recovers and grows
The Cabécar Indigenous community of Nairi Awari is a territory not only growing but also recovering from decades of dispossession. It stands as the stage for a relentless struggle to regenerate its ancestral lands.
ASOETEBRI: Indigenous knowledge to protect the forest
The community of Amubri is at the edge of a forest that is impossible to see with the naked eye: La Amistad International Park shared by Costa Rica and Panama. It is one of many communities inhabited by the Bribri Indigenous People.
Costa Rica
ACOMUITA: Financing with a gender focus.
Women are key defenders of the land, of our culture and ancestral knowledge. For this reason, at FTM we promote an inclusive vision that also places women at the center, ensuring that investments go directly to the territories, to women and to the communities that protect biodiversity and sustain our livelihoods.
Guatemala
Nueva Trinidad: A Community that knows how to reinvent itself
Guatemala endured an armed conflict from 1962 to 1996 that led to severe human rights violations. According to the OAS, the most violent period occurred between 1978 and 1983, during the military campaign “Victory 82,” which targeted and destroyed Indigenous and campesino communities, forcing many into displacement. Today, with support from the Mesoamerican Territorial Fund (MTF), the Unión Huista Agricultural Cooperative R.L., part of the Association of Community Forestry of Guatemala Utz Che’, is building an organic fertilizer biofactory.
Honduras
FEPROAH: Living from the forest while protecting the future.
In the mountains of Honduras, communities are proving that it is possible to live from the forest without destroying it. Through sustainable forest management, in Yamaranguila, they extract timber and reforest with native species such as pine, gavilea, and tatascán, ensuring ecosystem regeneration. Meanwhile, in Comayagua, they have taken action to protect their territory, conserving primary forests and water sources..
