About Restauración Forestal Projects

• Forest restoration involves actions aimed at reestablishing ecological processes to accelerate the recovery of forest structure, ecological functions, and biodiversity levels characteristic of climax forests—the final stage of natural forest succession. These ecosystems are relatively stable, having developed maximum biomass, structural complexity, and species diversity within the constraints of climate and soil, without ongoing human disturbance.
• Restauración Forestal projects reduce carbon dioxide by increasing natural forest growth to capture and store CO2 in the forest. Carbon credits are removals. Only incremental forest growth is counted for crediting. The project does not consider avoided emissions from projected deforestation. Projects have a 100-year commitment to maintain forest stock, a reversal buffer pool, and permanent zoning for protection​.
• The Yucatan is home to part of the 10 million hectares of diverse forests that form the Mayan Forest ecosystem, the second largest continuous area of tropical vegetation in the Americas.  Over 80,000 hectares of forest in the Yucatan are lost every year from cattle ranching and agricultural production.​
• Projects are owned by local communities, or Ejidos and contain a wide variety of flora and animal species reported as being threatened or endangered by the Ejido’s forest management program. All projects include a process to ensure free and prior informed consent (IFPIC) to all stakeholders and community members. ​
• Funds from carbon credit sales are used for forest protection activities, and to generate socio-economic improvements. Each community plans and implements forest restoration activities that include Reforestation of degraded sites, Fire prevention and control measures, monitoring, and brigade training​, and Enhanced Forest monitoring to prevent pests and diseases, logging and illegal hunting​.

Project Reports