Grassroots, Community-Led Reforestation in Chiapas

Today we visited a community on the coast of Chiapas where a small group of concerned community members are organizing around environmental education and reforestation. The leader of the group, Don Nayo, is a mason by profession, and while he never formally studied agroforestry or biology, his house is an experimental playground for growing and germinating all types of different trees and plants! He grows species from the mangroves (like Bontoncillo) which he germinates in a raised bed with sandy soil to replicate their natural habitat. He has planted over 35 different species of native trees in the tree nursery in his house and has over 500 saplings at the moment. He also experiments with some non-native species like a date palm that he hopes will bear fruit soon.

Don Nayo's hope is to get the community involved in protecting local resources in the community like the rivers and mangroves. Chiapas is the second-most biodiverse state in Mexico, and it provides 30% of the country’s freshwater. However, it has lost 55% of its forests for farmland and livestock pasture. Don Nayo and the group from the community are meeting with cattle ranchers, palm oil producers, and other land owners (ejidetarios) as allies to promote reforestation, awareness, and more sustainable practices in their community. Don Nayo has a light-hearted, generous personality and he is constantly making friends with everyone to collaborate.

First, we started off the day meeting with a group of community landowners or ejidetarios. Don Nayo spoke about the problems that the community faces in common-- "We all know the problems we are facing: intense heat, late rains, flooding, etc. These are increasingly becoming our reality and will worsen if we don't change things." Everyone in the meeting was in agreement. Don Nayo's tone isn't a doom and gloom message but he is smiling and eager to get into action. He is a great organizer, bringing together many actors including the organization I am interning with, the local landowners, local preparatory students, the community president, and a biologist from a nearby university. His optimistic and welcoming nature make people feel invited to participate and be part of the work.

A date was set for a community-organized reforestation that will take place along the river that runs through the community. We also visited a local preparatory school to invite the students who are studying community development. Additionally, Don Nayo and his group offered to give them workshops about how to propagate trees through different techniques. Don Nayo and his wife Rosie collect seeds from around the region and also propagate through layering (acodo) and cuttings (esquejes). They want to get young people interested in and knowledgable about this work as well.

We headed back to Don Nayo's house where we counted the different tree species he has so that we can have a better idea about how to prepare for the reforestation project which will take place in November.

These are some of the tree varieties we will be reforesting:

-       Pepenajuaste: 59

-       Ceiba: 11

-       Guacimo: 13

-       Roble: 113

-       Cedro: 30

-       Quil: 9

-       Tamarindo: 14

-       Primavera: 19

-       Botocillo: 14

-       Zapatón: 93

-       Sapote Negro: 5

-       Lombrisera: 2 

-       Cedro Libanes: 83

-       Grosella: 3

-       Naranja: 1

-       Papaya

-       Aguacate: 5

-       Acacia: 120

-       Yaka: 5

-       Papause: 2

-       Caimito: 2

-       Limón: 5

-       Guanabana: 2

-       Guayava: 6

-       Mango Piña: 23

Don Nayo asked if he could take a video of me describing my experience so that he could post it on his facebook page. He has learned a lot of what he knows auto-didactically through videos and online resources and he also posts a lot of his work on Facebook. I couldn't say no to his request, so I shared some of my experiences and my excitement about their work (seen in picture below)!

Why is Reforestation Important on the Coast of Chiapas?

First, pastureland for beef and dairy cattle has led to deforestation on the coast of Chiapas. Large landowners and cattle ranchers cut down trees to allow the grass to grow more quickly for their grazing cows. But there are alternatives. For example, rather than deforesting pastureland, a silvopasture system that integrates trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals is an option to avoid extensive deforestation. Native, local trees bring benefits to cattle. Local varieties have leguminous pods or fruits that are a good source of protein and nutrition for cattle. Trees also provide important shade for the animals. On the hottest days of tropical sun, you can see the cattle huddle together under the scarce trees to escape the heat. Reforestation has many other important benefits like providing more firewood for local families, providing additional income sources, and improving the soil.

Second, palm oil is another contributor to deforestation in the costal region. Below you can see where palm oil fruit is collected and weighed to be sold in the community. Palm oil trees cause deforestation because native forests are cut down in order to plant the palm oil trees. They also consume a lot of water. Palm oil is used in a lot of edible, processed foods like margarine, cooking oil, chocolate, cakes, etc. It is also used in other products like soaps, shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, etc..

Palm oil trees and fruit

Despite all of these challenges and changes in rural communities, some local people and communities still preserve their generational agricultural practices and local varieties of crops. One of Don Nayo's friends who is also part of the reforestation project has a diversified plot where he grows lots of interesting fruits and vegetables. Below is a type of cucumber that also tastes like a melon and it sort of looks like a papaya. It was delicious. We miss out on a lot of interesting varieties of fruits and vegetables because our diet is very restricted to a few commercial varieties that sell in the supermarkets rather than the wide variety that actually exist!