Community Conservation of Monarch Forest in Mexico

Monarchs are starting to head back north and our partner Alternare and the local communities are preparing for the year ahead. This winter the monarch population diminished by 27% compared to last year which is prompting us to redouble our efforts to help them!

The last month of 2106 and January and February, 2017 were mostly dedicated to planning our projects for 2017. However, we did carry out four workshops with the participation of 28 women and 15 men from the Manzanillos, Nicolas Romero, and Francisco Serrato indigenous communities. There were two workshops to build cisterns, and two on tree planting techniques. They resulted in the construction of two cisterns and three fuel-efficient stoves and one school tree nursery. Trees in nurseries need to be nurtured and 20,906 trees were looked after on 23 school and community nurseries.

Community cisterns are helping us manage the water supply by capturing rain water and distribute it among the individuals that live in the community. Communities are becoming self-sufficient, empowered and have embraced conservation and land stewardship, not only for the monarchs but for their own well-being. As one workshop participant told us: “we have sufficient water but it is distributed poorly. And to solve this problem we have considered the construction of a cistern to capture water. That would bring water to the community in the months when it is scarce.”

As one of our partners in conservation, you are joining thousands of people across North America actively doing something to support the monarchs and we are very grateful.

THANK YOU for being a part of these inspiring initiatives!

Reports are sent to donors every three months but if you do not wish to receive them click on the unsubscribe link in this email or login to your GlobalGiving account and change your email preferences.

Monarchs arrived in Mexico and we are waiting for the colonies to settle to assess the populations. In the meantime, our local partner Alternare continued with their ongoing workshops.

During the last trimester of the year, 6 workshops were held with the participation of 46 women and 86 men from the Crescencio Morales, Curungueo, San Cristóbal and Francisco Serrato indigenous communities. There were 4 workshops to build cisterns, 1 on reforestation and another one on tree planting. They resulted in the construction of 27 cisterns, 3 fuel-efficient stoves and one school tree nursery.

The cisterns have a large capacity to hold rainwater which is used to water vegetable gardens and provide drinking water to communities. Thanks to the cisterns and their fuel-efficient stoves, families can cook and enjoy their meals with potable water. A family eating tortillas and drinking clean water told us, “This is fantastic! We can make our tortillas using less fuel and get a glass of water right here in the community. The food seems tastier now. Thank you!"

 Stay tuned for our upcoming winter newsletter where you will be able to read more details about all our projects.

 THANK YOU for being a part of these inspiring initiatives!

Reports are sent to donors every three months but if you do not wish to receive them click on the unsubscribe link in this email or login to your GlobalGiving account and change your email preferences.