2023-2024 Annual Report
This was a watershed year for Trees, Water & People.
We continued to grow our programs and reputation in the places we work
and produced remarkably good results.
Our keystone moment was establishing the 75th National Protected Area in Honduras, the Aldea de Suyapa Wildlife Refuge, named after our fallen colleague and founder of COEAS, Luís Hernán Baca Valladares, “Mero.”
This year Trees, Water & People will be raising funds for COEAS to be effective managers of their own ancestral forest — as getting it legally protected was only the first step. COEAS will still have to combat fires and poachers, grow their team of park rangers, and connect their Refuge to the nearby La Tigra National Park.
We’ll also continue to connect Indigenous forest managers from across the Americas. Recovering forest health in New Mexico and Colorado provides us many useful lessons for forests in Mexico and Central America — and vice versa.
Please enjoy Trees, Water & People’s 25th Anniversary Annual Report. We’re proud of where we are as an organization and hope you are inspired to continue supporting our work.
Thanks for being part of our story,
Sebastian Africano
Executive Director
Women Leaders
RISING IN MEXICO
By Daniela Bueso, Director of the Mesoamerica Program
This year, I’ve had the privilege of traveling to Mexico twice. The first visit was a two-week-trip to Puebla, Veracruz, and Oaxaca to get to know our new potential partner Red MOCAF, visit its partner communities, meet community leaders, and understand the realities of each region. The second visit was a tour to Oaxaca, with a group of Trees, Water & People (TWP) Board members, family, and friends who wanted to learn about environmental efforts led by Red MOCAF, its history, culture, opportunities, and challenges.
On both occasions, I noticed the rising leadership of women in every sector. Whether they were local leaders in their communities, members of their cooperatives, artisans, technicians, engineers, business owners, or tour guides; these women were breaking barriers, earning dignified livelihoods, and collaborating with their communities to improve their way of life. This rise in women leaders historically had been a tough challenge but shifted with the agrarian and social movements led by Emiliano Zapata and Benito Juarez, to open the door for communities to work together.
As the Mesomerica Program begins to look at potential partnerships in Mexico, we’re pleasantly surprised by how the Indigenous communities are guided by the term communality: the set of physical, material, spiritual, and ideological elements that Indigenous peoples share, based on their fulfillment of common obligations. Those common obligations open the door for both men and women to receive respect and inclusion equally as caregivers of their natural resources and well-being.
In Oaxaca, the Cooperative of San Andres de Huayapam works to protect their forest and watershed on the outskirts of the city. They taught us about the value of the word tequio: an Indigenous term that refers to the task or collective work that each person — no matter what gender, age, or representation — owes his or her community. Members of this cooperative took great pride in their tequios and how much they value their diversity, commitment, and equitable opportunities. As one community leader said: “Everyone has something to contribute or teach us, so why not involve those who want to be a part of something great.”
2023-2024 Financial Report
Revenue
| Foundations | $978,143.00 |
| Public Support | $932,326.00 |
| Corporate | $512,644.00 |
| Investment Income | $46,190.00 |
| Interest Income | $38,201.00 |
| Fees for Services | -$15,310.00 |
| Misc. Income | $3,093.00 |
| Total | $2,525,907.00 |
Expenses
| Mesoamerica Program | $1,168,852.00 |
| El Salvador | $177,193.00 |
| Guatemala | $293,598.00 |
| Honduras | $688,953.00 |
| Mexico | $9,108.00 |
| Indigenous Lands Program | $763,522.00 |
| South Dakota | $114,528.00 |
| New Mexico | $211,648.00 |
| CO/Local | $437,345.00 |
| Management & General | $212,289.00 |
| Fundraising | $282,820.00 |
| Total | $2,427,483.00 |
Statement of Financial Position
| Cash Assets | $1,121,521.00 |
| Investments | $145,447.00 |
| Fixed & Other Assets | $539,021.00 |
| Total Assets | $1,805,989.00 |
| Total Liabilities | $22,302.00 |
| Net Assets | $1,783,687.00 |
| Total Liabilities & Net Assets | $1,805,989.00 |
Strengthening Sovereignty through
Collaboration & Community
By James Calabaza, Indigenous Lands Program Director
In the last two decades, wildfires have ravaged Tribal lands and its protective boundaries.
As the fires were suppressed and recovery plans started to percolate, one key restoration item was never brought up — replacing and updating the preexisting fence line. Fixing or updating a fence line may not be a priority for many, but for Tribes, this is an important factor towards their sovereignty. Fences protect Tribal lands and cultural resources from humans and feral animals that can damage critical ecosystems and archaeological sites. They are one of the last mechanisms left to protect what had been forcefully taken from Tribes.
Since fall 2023, Trees, Water & People (TWP) has been part of a unique, cross-collaborative project that both reestablished a critical fence line in the Jemez mountains and strengthened Tribal sovereignty for three New Mexico Pueblos. In 2022 Tribal land managers and leaders identified the movement of humans and feral animals from public lands onto their Tribal lands, leading to ecological damage and uncontrollable animal populations. As a result, Tribes established an inter-Tribal collaboration and network that unifies resources, labor, and knowledge.
This project has illustrated to us the true value of collaboration and community strength. TWP worked alongside the leadership of the Tri-Pueblo Coalition (Cochiti, Jemez, and Kewa Pueblos), with support from the Ancestral Lands Conservation Corps, The Nature Conservancy in New Mexico and the Bureau of Indian Affairs-Cultural Resources Management We focused the project days not only on getting the fence reestablished, but also on cultural knowledge and best practices exchanges regarding restoration. TWP had the privilege of capturing stories, testimonials, and videos from the field that we’ll soon share, so you can see this impact with your own eyes.
A few months have passed since the project started, but the stories and smiles we experienced remain in our hearts. Most of us think of Indigenous sovereignty through the political or economic lens of government relations. What we learned last fall was that sovereignty goes much deeper; it’s embedded within the people, their local cultures, and their lands.
Thanks to these innovative partnerships, we have been able to complete important community-based sustainable development projects. To learn more about our Partners for a Sustainable Planet program, please visit treeswaterpeople.org/partners.
Since 2022, Humble Bundle, alongside its generous community, has raised over $540,000 for Trees, Water & People. This impactful investment supports our programs in Central America and Indigenous Lands in the Western U.S.
To date, Positive Legacy has offset 45,988 metric tons of CO2e from its music festivals. This effort has provided 1,030 Justa clean cookstoves to families in Honduras, creating a positive impact on both people and the environment.
Counter Culture Coffee has made a significant investment in offsetting its footprint by funding the installation of 805 Justa clean cookstoves in Honduras. This initiative will prevent 9,042 metric tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere.
Partner with us
We seek partnerships with like-minded businesses that believe in our mission and the work we do to advance it.
For Mission Support contact
Hellen Castro: Hellen@twp.org
For Carbon Offset contact
Sela Mumuli: Sela@twp.org
“Para Red MOCAF la alianza de trabajo con TWP es estratégica porque a través de un proceso de acercamiento hemos encontrado muchas coincidencias en intereses. Les damos la bienvenida a México y esperamos qu esta relación sea buena para todos pero principalmente para la comunidades forestales...”
— Gustavo Sánchez Valle
Presidente del Consejo Directivo en Red Mexicana de Organizaciones Campesinas Forestales - Red MOCAF