Community Outreach and Livelihoods - Ya'axché Conservation Trust

Ya’axché's Community Outreach and Livelihoods (COL) program engages a farmer network of over 156 farmers from 10 stakeholder communities to implement climate-smart sustainable agricultural techniques as a part of an Integrated Farming System (IFS) inclusive of cacao-based agroforestry, Inga alley cropping and beekeeping. The COL program promotes integrated fire management best practices and training, education and outreach and entrepreneurship, contributing to improving livelihoods and enhancing climate resilient local communities and Indigenous Peoples of the MGL.

01. Climate-Smart Agricultural Practices

Compared to more traditional forms of agriculture (such as slash-and-burn milpa farming), climate-smart practices such as agroforestry reduce water pollution, improve soil health, preserve habitats, and conserve biodiversity - making ecosystems healthier and more resilient, these systems also help to maintain or increase agricultural yields, thus benefitting local livelihoods.

Cacao-Based Agroforestry

Cacao-based agroforestry is the practice of integrating cacao trees with diverse plants and crops. Compared to more traditional forms of agriculture (such as slash-and-burn milpa farming), agroforestry improves soil health, preserves habitats, and conserves biodiversity.

Cacao holds much cultural significance and has traditionally been grown across the MGL. Farmers are encouraged to manage shade within their agroforestry systems and prune regularly to promote healthy growth. Cacao-based agroforestry farms increase agricultural yields, benefitting local livelihoods.

Inga Alley Cropping

Alley cropping is the planting of rows of trees and/or shrubs to create alleys within which agricultural crops are produced. Ya'axché promotes the use of Inga edulis (Bri-bri) in alley cropping, where farmers typically plant short-term crops such as corn, beans and vegetables in between rows of Bri-bri. Bri-bri is a fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing legume. It eliminates the need for fertilizers, provides shade for soil, improves soil fertility, prevents erosion and controls weeds.

Beekeeping

Beekeeping, also referred to as Apiculture, is the practice of maintaining colonies of honeybees. This climate-smart practice is an important small-scale agri-business for farmers in the MGL and an opportunity for others to diversify household income. Beekeeping offers income opportunities from honey, beeswax, royal jelly, among others.

Beekeeping is a practice that complements agroforestry systems, supporting pollinator health and maintaining biodiversity.

02. Community Agroforestry Concession

The Maya Mountain North Forest Reserve (MMNFR) cacao agroforestry concession is Belize’s first community-based concession within a protected area. Spanning 936 acres in the south-eastern corner of the 36,130-acre MMNFR, residents of Trio Village access the forest reserve to cultivate cacao, transforming local livelihoods while fostering environmental stewardship. Established in 2015 through the collaborative work of Ya’axché, the Belize Forest Department, and the Trio Farmers Cacao Growers (TFCG), this concession is non-extractive and serves as a model in protected areas management. By promoting sustainable economic development in surrounding communities, it reduces current threats to biodiversity and habitat loss driven by illegal and unsustainable agricultural practices.

03. Fire Management

Uncontrolled escaped fires annually threaten farms, households, and forests of the MGL. The COL program has an established support and response mechanism to address planned and/or unplanned fires in communities. The fire management approach integrates Ya’axché’s community stewardship efforts and guided practices help build community capacities on how to manage fire. Increasing awareness and promoting community fire management is key to preventing environmental degradation from escaped fires and affecting livelihoods.

04. Education and Outreach

Ya’axché’s education and outreach activities aim to empower communities with the knowledge to sustainably manage and protect our natural resources. By increasing stakeholders’ knowledge on climate-smart farming practices, biodiversity research and monitoring, protected areas management, ecotourism and integrated fire management, we foster a culture of environmental stewardship. Our efforts are amplified through national and international engagements. We utilize diverse platforms such as maintaining online presence, radio shows, school visits, community meetings and annual events including BioBlitz, Ya’axché’s Farmer Expo, and Summer Camp. We work to inspire action for a more sustainable future.

Ya’axché Integrated Forest Management Database

Ya’axché began the development of an Integrated Forest Management Database System in 2020 to more effectively manage and utilize data collected by its various programs.

The first release of the system was deployed in February 2022 and updated in October 2022. The database system includes protected areas managed by the PAM program, agroforestry data including beekeeping from the COL program, and soil monitoring data from the Science program. In addition to a centralized relational database hosted in the internet “cloud”, the database system includes a mobile application used to collect data offline in the field, and a web mapping and data visualization application. The web application shown below displays a subset of the data visible in a similar application for Ya’axché internal use. Both web applications connect directly to the database, so that any database updates are visible in real time.

The interactive database below depicts where Ya’axché has helped to implement sustainable agroforestry and forest conservation practices. You can follow our progress as the database is updated with additional data on existing agroforestry plots and apiaries, and as additional farmers join with Ya’axché to improve their livelihoods and protect the forest ecosystem.