Scolel Té: Plan Vivo
Indigenous Mexican groups are protecting their land for future generations
Category:
Trees and farms
•
Country:
Mexico
Overview
What is it all about?
The Scolel Té project brings together indigenous communities in Mexico to help them manage their land responsibly and replant and protect endangered forests.
It is a project under the Plan Vivo System which is a structure for community land use projects in developing states. The Plan Vivo System provides a way for farmers and land users to create plans to preserve and restore the land and forest areas through reforestation initiatives.
How does it work?
Small scale farmers from indigenous communities in Chiapas and Oxaca are joining cooperatives and associations to make sure their land is being farmed in a sustainable way.
Operated by the NGO Ambio, they also undertake replanting and pledge to protect the forests, some of which are endangered. As forests sequester carbon, the carbon benefits of the project can then be sold.
Social benefits
Environmental benefits
The program is the pilot project for Plan Vivo, an organisation that works with small-scale landowners and communities to set up land management systems with technical monitoring and strict carbon accounting.
Founded in 1996, the Scolel Té project has been economically self-sufficient since 2002.
How reductions happen
Reductions in carbon dioxide emissions occur through the storage of carbon on a per hectare basis. The future carbon benefits occur from the restoration of degraded forest land and also the protection of endangered forest areas. The carbon reductions are quantified by the estimated increase in the carbon stock in above and below ground biomass over 100 years.
Participants
- Owner: The producers themselves and the community participants
- Developer: The Edinburgh Centre for Carbon Management
- Operator: AMBIO (www.ambio.org.mx: ambiofb@prodigy.net.mx)
- Verifier: Smartwood
Offset initiatives
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With the help of Piqqo and the Scolel Té community forestry project, from Sept 2009 all 100% organic cotton garments sold by Miksani are carbon neutral.
For more information visit www.miksani.co.uk
CO2 reductions and energy output
How reductions are calculated
Carbon storage is the process that is used in calculating and quantifying the reductions. Carbon sequestration potential is measured over a period of time considering the crop rotation and climate conditions. It is measured as the amount of carbon in tonnes per hectare above an initial soil and vegetation carbon baseline.
The carbon dioxide in vegetation includes above and below ground biomass in addition to soil carbon and is also based on assumed annual timber production for the particular tree/existing vegetation. The baseline is the carbon stock in the typical tree/vegetation based on the assumed land use and long term average carbon storage. There are a range of parameters for consideration including initial biomass, species distribution, maximum growth and annual mortality amongst others.
Milestones
- 01 January 1996 Project initiation:
- 31 March 1997 Project was registered:
- 31 March 2002 Validation was complete:
Location data
Location
Address:
Chiapas, Mexico
About the region
History
Scolel Té is located in Central and Northern Chiapas and Northeast Oxaca, Southern Mexico. The communities involved are Tojolobal and Tzotzil groups in the highland and Tzeltal and Lacandon groups in the lowland regions.
When Central America achieved independence from Mexico in 1823, Western Chiapas was annexed to Mexico. More of current day Chiapas was transferred after the disintegration of the Central American Federation in 1842. Descendants of the Spanish continued to control indigenous people through debt peonage.
Wildlife
The Alvarez del Toro Zoo in Tuxtla Gutierrez features local, native fauna. The Lacandon Jungle is an important biodiversity spot, which recently yielded one of the newest and most unique plant family discovered, represented by the plant Lacandonia schismatica.
Touristic sites
Chiapas is part of the Ruta Maya or Gringo Trail that links Cancun, Belice, Tikal, Lake Atitlan, San Cristobal de las Casas, Palenque and other Maya archeological sites. San Cristóbal de las Casas is a favorite international tourist destination due to its colorful First Nations traditions and customs.
Interesting facts
According to the limited geography model of the Book of Mormon, Chiapas is the most plausible location of the land of Zarahemla.
Downloadable documents
- Scolel Té Project Fact Sheet
Adobe PDF (791 KB)
Description
A fact sheet of the Scolel Té Plan Vivo project
- Scolel Té Verification report
Adobe PDF (143 KB)
Description
The Plan Vivo System- verification status review
- Reforestration Baseline Methodology
Adobe PDF (78 KB)
Description
An outline of how the emissions baseline is calculated for reforestration projects of this vegetation type
- Measuring carbon uptake methodology
Adobe PDF (21 KB)
Description
An overview of how carbon uptake is calculated from reforestration projects of this vegetation type
- Plan Vivo overview
Adobe PDF (2.9 MB)
Description
An overview of how the Plan Vivo system works
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