Success stories

Arimae makes progress on developing their community forestry program.

In 2009-10 we partnered with the indigenous community of Arimae to develop and execute an agroforestry project funded by the UNDP Global Environmental Facility’s Small Grants Programme.

Download the case study (PDF) 

Designed to generate income while conserving the community’s natural resources, the project created a native species tree nursery to cultivate rosewood and cacao seedlings which were later transplanted to the community’s reservation. During the next few years the community will harvest the cacao to sell, and use the cocobolo for community artisan projects or for sale. The nursery will continue to produce saplings that can be sold to other plantation projects in the immediate area.

The project also utilized participatory mapping to assess the deforestation threat to Arimae’s ~5,000 hectare reservation. 

Planting Empowerment worked with Arimae’s agricultural association, ASOADICO, to determine suitable areas for planting, plan the development of the native species nursery, and oversee the deforestation assessment.