Site: Petén, Guatemala
Type of Partnership: Community development, comanagment
Website(s): ACOFOP
Contact Name:
Phone: +(502) 79263572
Email: webmaster@acofop.org
Address: 4ta. Avenida 11Calle, zona 1,
San Benito, Petén, Guatemala, Centro América

Description: ACOFOP is an organization of community-based groups covering 30 rural villages in the buffer zone of the Mayan Biosphere Reserve, a 2.1 million hectare region of international biological importance. The most innovative aspect of this initiative is that, through ACOFOP, these communities have assumed responsibility for sustainable management of resources within the biosphere reserve. Currently, the communities have 437,597 hectares of forests under management plans, of which 241,448 hectares are internationally certified by the Forest Stewardship Council - the world's largest certified forest area under community management. As well, the critical work of ACOFOP helps to limit uncontrolled migration and reduces conflict over natural resources. ACOFOP also provides badly needed jobs in local communities and vocational and skills training in the region. Ultimately, the work of ACOFOP has reduced local poverty, limited deforestation, and replaced a regime of unsustainable exploitation of biodiversity with an era of sustainable use.

Source: Joshua Bishop, IUCN