Bio-diversity

This project seeks to address and respond to several problematic issues facing the communities in the upper Rio Grande Valley. Approximately 4,000 citizens reside in this area of buffer zone to the BJCMNP, and all are considered marginalized due to recent decades of failing agricultural markets and degrading infrastructure. Whereas many households are choosing to relocate from their ancestral lands, members of BPFA continue in efforts to rebuild and strengthen natural and cultural resources within these communities. BPFA responds with progressive, sustainable techniques for reducing costs of living and for protecting the environment with sound land management practices. This project seeks to empower the surrounding communities to realize the resources that do exist in their midst, to utilize them and to protect and preserve them for future generations. This project seeks to generate sustainable livelihood development in two (2) ways--through reduction of energy costs and increased marketability at Ambassabeth Eco-Lodge and through revenue generated by the orchard section of reforested lands This project seeks to empower local community groups and community members toward selfreliance and individual and household behavioural change in terms of land use and energy dependence. A long-term outcome would be a multi-level shift toward sustainable land management practices, as well as promotion of clean, renewable energy technologies.

Jamaica