Forest Stewardship in the Cloud Forests of Xalapa, Veracruz
The cloud forests around the city of Xalapa, Veracruz, are severely threatened by agricultural development and urbanization. Ongoing deforestation threatens to reduce forests to a few patches, with huge concomitant losses to biodiversity and to the watershed (nearly 30% of the water consumed by the city of Xalapa originates from the forested watershed). Working with support from the Overbrook Foundation and in collaboration with the local NGO SENDAS, PPI is seeking to promote forest conservation and prevent land use conversion by increasing the economic, environmental and social incentives provided by standing forests in relation to competing land uses. Working closely with small holders and local residents we are helping to develop sustainable industries based on biodiversity, in particular wood handicrafts, native bee cultivation and ecotourism related activities, including the construction of a butterfly garden and a community environmental interpretation and training centre.
Community forest census, Xalapa [photo: A. Sierra]Wood resource evaluation and management: As part of a first phase in the development of a sound management plan for wood resources we have worked closely and actively with local residents in order to inventory existing standing stocks, determine growth rates of preferred species and evaluate potential harvest volumes. We have identified a number of fast-growing species that are to be planted in pastures and other degraded areas as a way of securing a future source of raw material for the local carpentry workshops, and to alleviate the excessively high pressure currently placed on the remaining forest fragments. In the meantime we have begun to utilize discarded dead wood, left behind by illegal logging operations over the years but still useable for carpentry, and much of it from valuable hardwood species.
Community environmental outreach center and butterfly garden: Built on land loaned by a local fish farming cooperative (Cooperativa de Trucheros El Hayal), the community training center includes an ample area in which to conduct workshops, as well as a handicraft and carpentry workship, a butterfly garden, a demonstration native bee nursery (meliponary), and a shop selling locally harvested and grown products and handicrafts. The construction of the center by volunteers has itself been part of training process, including a number of workshops on the use of sustainable building technologies using such materials as adobe and bamboo.
Native bee-keeping: Building on local interest in revitilizing traditional bee-keeping, a traditional activity that has almost been entirely abandoned in this area, PPI has initiated a pilot project, which ultimately hopes to help generate an additional forest-based income stream. Working with local specialists, we have brought back stingless bee colonies from Cuetzalan, Puebla, where indigenous people still tend these type of native stingless bees. A pilot bee-keeping project with these colonies is due to begin in October.
