Applied Research

Since December 2007, under the WSSD implementation fund of the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), the Global Diversity Foundation has been collaborating with Mexican institutions and non-governmental organizations to build the capacity of Oaxaca's indigenous Chinantec people to more sustainably study, manage and utilize their tropical forest ecosystems.

Local Capacity Building
In six Chinantec communities, this multiple-year project has initiated local research for the creation of community biodiversity registers that document biological resources of potential economic value. Central to GDF's work is a participatory philosophy for conservation and development, and in cooperation with local NGOs, the project selects and trains community members to work as counterpart researchers, protected area personnel and natural history guides. A community cultural center and a biological research station in Santa Cruz Tepetotutla are already under construction, and technical training and equipment are provided through GDF. Community workshops on topics such as sustainable forest management, participatory video, and legal frameworks for collaboration, make this approach to people-centered ecosystem conservation particularly robust.

Project Outputs
Important outputs of this project will be the publication of community biodiversity registers, and the compilation of a database of more than twenty non-timber forest products with potential for sustainable management and commercialization. Chinantec researchers and natural history guides, along with collaborating Mexican researchers, will be equipped and trained in conservation biology and ethnoecology methods. The establishment of research agreements and protocols, including free, prior informed consent, will allow appropriate dissemination of information under the protection of local decisions, national laws and international conventions.

Exchanges and Advanced Studies
In order to enhance the experience of local people and to disseminate the results of the communities working with GDF, exchanges with other communities and participation in national and international meetings are planned. To strengthen the capacity of diverse Oaxacan institutions to support community conservation areas, the GDF will provide advanced seminars in sustainable forest management, biodiversity law and community conservation for university-trained colleagues that work in the fields of biodiversity conservation and rural development.