PROJECT:Commercialization of Organic Cacao

COUNTRIES:Bolivia

DONOR:Organization of American States (OAS)-Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Industrias El Ceibo, Xpertise Consulting Group

SUMMARY:Adding value to organic cacao products for national and international markets. Recommendations included the development of a few elaborated products while creating new alliances to obtain other organic ingredients, such as sugar. The project enhanced the livelihood of 2,000 low-income farmers.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2002-2005

PROJECT:Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches for Ecosystem

COUNTRIES:Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Global Environment Facility (GEF)-World Bank and the LEAD-FAO Initiative; Centre for Research in Sustainable Systems of Agriculture (CIPAV), in Colombia; Nitlapán Institute, Central American University, in Nicaragua.

SUMMARY:To evaluate environmental service payments as a tool to promote incorporation of silvopastoral management systems on livestock farms and to learn about changes that occur in carbon sequestration, biodiversity and water quality when conventional pastures are transformed into silvopastoral systems under integrated landscape management.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2002-2007

PROJECT: Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches for Ecosystem

COUNTRIES:Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Global Environment Facility (GEF)-World Bank and the LEAD-FAO Initiative; Centre for Research in Sustainable Systems of Agriculture (CIPAV), in Colombia; Nitlapán Institute, Central American University, in Nicaragua.

SUMMARY:To evaluate environmental service payments as a tool to promote incorporation of silvopastoral management systems on livestock farms and to learn about changes that occur in carbon sequestration, biodiversity and water quality when conventional pastures are transformed into silvopastoral systems under integrated landscape management.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2002-2007

PROJECT: Adapting Tropical Forests to Climate Change

COUNTRIES: Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica (and partner projects in Indonesia and West Africa)

DONOR: European Union

PRINCIPAL PARTNER: Center for International Forest Research

SUMMARY: Developing methodologies to assess vulnerability of forest ecosystems to climate change; creating criteria and indicators for adaptive management; and integrating adaptation strategies into national development agendas. These efforts are crucial to reduce vulnerability of climate change for the rural poor, many of whom live in forest-dependent communities.

PROJECT TIMELINE: 2005-2009

PROJECT: Support to Model Forests Development in the Dominican Republic: Sabana Yegua Model Forest and Cuenca Alta del Río Yaque del Norte

COUNTRIES: Dominican Republic

DONOR: Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and International Development Research Centre (IDRC)

PRINCIPAL PARTNER: Secretary of State for Environment and Natural Resources (SENARM); Japanese International Cooperation Agency; Fundación Sur Futuro (at Sabana Yegua); German Agency for Technical Cooperation (at Cuenca Alta del Río Yaque del Norte)

SUMMARY: To coordinate with decision makers in the Model Forests to arrive at agreement on a sustainable development model at the landscape level that improves quality of life for those who live in the area of the Model Forests and takes into account the diverse values and uses of natural resources. Fifteen model forests currently operate in Latin America and the Caribbean, grouped under a regional network (LAC-Net) that is part of an international network of model forests. CATIE hosts LAC-NET and co-finances networking, learning, capacity creating and innovation.

PROJECT TIMELINE: 2006-2008

PROJECT: Adapting Tropical Forests to Climate Change

COUNTRIES: Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica (and partner projects in Indonesia and West Africa)

DONOR: European Union

PRINCIPAL PARTNER: Center for International Forest Research

SUMMARY: Developing methodologies to assess vulnerability of forest ecosystems to climate change; creating criteria and indicators for adaptive management; and integrating adaptation strategies into national development agendas. These efforts are crucial to reduce vulnerability of climate change for the rural poor, many of whom live in forest-dependent communities.

PROJECT TIMELINE: 2005-2009

PROJECT:Developing Relationships Between Small Producers and Specialty Coffee Markets

COUNTRIES:Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Japan Social Development Fund-World Bank

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Coffee Institutes, Regional Unit for Technical Assistance, and Cooperatives

SUMMARY:Assisting small coffee-grower associations increase income by exporting their production to specialty markets, with an emphasis on improving managerial capacity, enhancing coffee quality and the coffee certification processes, and marketing strategies for specialty coffees.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2007

PROJECT:Developing Sustainable Land Use Alternatives for Degraded Pasturelands

COUNTRIES:Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala

DONOR:Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Nitlapán Research and Development Institute, and the Pan-American Agricultural School in Zamorano

SUMMARY:Building a regional capacity to help Central American cattle farmers manage grazing foods to improve productivity, reduce degradation of pastures, and increase biodiversity and alternative land uses.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2008

PROJECT:Partnerships Between Small Coffee Producers and Specialty Markets

COUNTRIES:Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:World Bank

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:HICAFE, Cafe Nica, ANACAFE, coffee institutes and cooperatives

SUMMARY:Building the managerial capacity of 50 cooperatives that represents more than 3,000 coffee producers, and enhancing coffee quality and establishing links with specialty coffee markets.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2007

PROJECT:Developing Ecoproducts, component of Focuencas II

COUNTRIES:Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Las Dahlias, COAPROCL

SUMMARY:Creating ecoproducts that provide increased income for families on small farms without negative impact on watersheds. In Honduras, these products include vegetables, biocosmetics, and agro ecotourism, while in Nicaragua they include coffee and horticultural products. Women’s groups and cooperatives both are involved in this endeavor.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2007

PROJECT:FOCUENCAS II

COUNTRIES:Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Swedish International Development Agency

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Fundación Amigos de La Tigra

SUMMARY:Promoting integrated watershed management, encompassing issues such as: sustainable use of water, conflicts over water use, rural community and eco-enterprise development, silvo-agricultural practices on farms, environmental service payments, natural disasters; and developing and strengthening alliances among local, national, and regional institutions and organizations involved in watershed management

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2008

PROJECT:Developing Relationships Between Small Producers and Specialty Coffee Markets

COUNTRIES:Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Japan Social Development Fund-World Bank

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Coffee Institutes, Regional Unit for Technical Assistance, and Cooperatives

SUMMARY:Assisting small coffee-grower associations increase income by exporting their production to specialty markets, with an emphasis on improving managerial capacity, enhancing coffee quality and the coffee certification processes, and marketing strategies for specialty coffees.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2007

PROJECT:Developing Sustainable Land Use Alternatives for Degraded Pasturelands

COUNTRIES:Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala

DONOR:Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Nitlapán Research and Development Institute, and the Pan-American Agricultural School in Zamorano

SUMMARY:Building a regional capacity to help Central American cattle farmers manage grazing foods to improve productivity, reduce degradation of pastures, and increase biodiversity and alternative land uses.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2008

PROJECT:Partnerships Between Small Coffee Producers and Specialty Markets

COUNTRIES:Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:World Bank

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:HICAFE, Cafe Nica, ANACAFE, coffee institutes and cooperatives

SUMMARY:Building the managerial capacity of 50 cooperatives that represents more than 3,000 coffee producers, and enhancing coffee quality and establishing links with specialty coffee markets.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2007

PROJECT:Developing Ecoproducts, component of Focuencas II

COUNTRIES:Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Las Dahlias, COAPROCL

SUMMARY:Creating ecoproducts that provide increased income for families on small farms without negative impact on watersheds. In Honduras, these products include vegetables, biocosmetics, and agro ecotourism, while in Nicaragua they include coffee and horticultural products. Women’s groups and cooperatives both are involved in this endeavor.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2007

PROJECT:FOCUENCAS II

COUNTRIES:Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Swedish International Development Agency

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Fundación Amigos de La Tigra

SUMMARY:Promoting integrated watershed management, encompassing issues such as: sustainable use of water, conflicts over water use, rural community and eco-enterprise development, silvo-agricultural practices on farms, environmental service payments, natural disasters; and developing and strengthening alliances among local, national, and regional institutions and organizations involved in watershed management

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2008

PROJECT: Adapting Tropical Forests to Climate Change

COUNTRIES: Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica (and partner projects in Indonesia and West Africa)

DONOR: European Union

PRINCIPAL PARTNER: Center for International Forest Research

SUMMARY: Developing methodologies to assess vulnerability of forest ecosystems to climate change; creating criteria and indicators for adaptive management; and integrating adaptation strategies into national development agendas. These efforts are crucial to reduce vulnerability of climate change for the rural poor, many of whom live in forest-dependent communities.

PROJECT TIMELINE: 2005-2009

PROJECT:Developing Relationships Between Small Producers and Specialty Coffee Markets

COUNTRIES:Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua

DONOR:Japan Social Development Fund-World Bank

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Coffee Institutes, Regional Unit for Technical Assistance, and Cooperatives

SUMMARY:Assisting small coffee-grower associations increase income by exporting their production to specialty markets, with an emphasis on improving managerial capacity, enhancing coffee quality and the coffee certification processes, and marketing strategies for specialty coffees.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2007

PROJECT:Developing Sustainable Land Use Alternatives for Degraded Pasturelands

COUNTRIES:Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala

DONOR:Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:International Center for Tropical Agriculture, Nitlapán Research and Development Institute, and the Pan-American Agricultural School in Zamorano

SUMMARY:Building a regional capacity to help Central American cattle farmers manage grazing foods to improve productivity, reduce degradation of pastures, and increase biodiversity and alternative land uses.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2008

PROJECT: Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches for Ecosystem

COUNTRIES:Colombia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Global Environment Facility (GEF)-World Bank and the LEAD-FAO Initiative; Centre for Research in Sustainable Systems of Agriculture (CIPAV), in Colombia; Nitlapán Institute, Central American University, in Nicaragua.

SUMMARY:To evaluate environmental service payments as a tool to promote incorporation of silvopastoral management systems on livestock farms and to learn about changes that occur in carbon sequestration, biodiversity and water quality when conventional pastures are transformed into silvopastoral systems under integrated landscape management.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2002-2007

PROJECT:Participatory Validation and Replication of Sustainable Agricultural Practices in Priority Areas of the Panama Canal Watershed

COUNTRIES:Panama

DONOR:Fund for Integrated Management of Panama Canal Watershed, implemented with technical assistance from the Academy for Educational Development under contract with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Ministry of Agricultural Development, Panama, and Conservation Through Research, Education and Action

SUMMARY:To identify and validate practices that promotes sustainable natural resource use on farms in five communities that can be replicated in other areas of the Panama Canal watershed. The project focuses on outreach to producers, research and generation of technologies, and validating technologies that have positive and lasting effects on the environment and sustainable production. Emphasis is on management by the farmers, who are being trained to promote use of the validated agricultural practices.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2005-2006

PROJECT:Identification of Genes Resistant to Cacao Diseases

DONOR:U.S. Department of Agriculture

SUMMARY:Establishing a genetic base for a generation of genotypes resistant to frosty pod and black pod diseases, two of the most destructive cacao diseases in Latin America. This project has a profound importance because of the thousands of rural families who depend on cacao for their subsistence.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2004-2006

PROJECT:Rural Community Enterprise Review

COUNTRIES:International

DONOR:Ford Foundation

PRINCIPAL PARTNER:Imperial College, Great Britain

SUMMARY:Addressing the potential of rural community enterprises to reduce poverty and promote rural development, including the sustainable use of natural resources. This encompasses a comprehensive review of existing debates related to rural community enterprise and 35 comparative case studies from the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia and the Pacific.

PROJECT TIMELINE:2006