Breathing smoke from burning firewood and spending money every day to obtain it was part of the daily life of Eula Ortéz, a 71-year-old housewife from the community of Bañaderos, Teupasenti, El Paraíso.

Henry Rael has been with the McCune Charitable Foundation, a strong supporter of TWP’s work in New Mexico, for more than 13 years. As the director of strategy and initiatives, Henry has been instrumental in helping position the foundation as a leader in deeply collaborative, trust-based approaches to grant making.

Amidst the economic turmoil of USAID closures, tariffs, deportations, and other shifts in Mesoamerica, the need to invest in resilient economies has become even more clear. The region’s long-term stability will come from supporting the communities who know it best, and many of those communities are already finding ways to sustain their livelihoods while also protecting their landscapes, culture, and people.

In June, TWP’s Indigenous Lands Program team participated in a 3-day staff retreat with our partner, Montezuma Land Conservancy. Bringing together 6 staff from each team in Cortez, CO, the retreat focused on visiting sites of the traditional harvest program and river restoration structures, planning shared work in coming years, and celebrating our new joint staff member, Wyatt Wilson. TWP’s ILP resource coordinator, Zoe Bashkin, shares her experiences and insights from her days with the team

Diane Vella has been with Trees, Water & People for more than 17 years, keeping our programs running, our staff paid, and our office dogs well-loved.

On Wednesday June 4th, following the eruption of Volcán de Fuego, 163 families from the community of la Nueva Trinidad were once again forced to flee their homes to seek shelter. 

It is hard to keep your head above the rising water these days. Every day, I wake up thinking about the state of the world, humanity, our planet, and the future generations.

In February 2005, I left my home in San Francisco and spun out of the sky onto the notoriously short runway of Toncontín International Airport in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Two weeks prior I had attended my first ETHOS clean-cooking conference in Kirkland, WA, had met Trees, Water & People’s (TWP) founder Stuart Conway for the first time, and entered an obscure line of work that would move me toward my goal of getting paid to travel to Latin America.

After a long effort to organize and access support,  the Association of Xinca Agroecological Promoters of Jalapa (ASOPROAJ) attained legal status in 2022. ASOPROAJ is an association of more than 90 members from Indigenous Xinca communities in Guatemala, working to practice agroecology, develop sustainable livelihoods, and protect their territories.

As our work in New Mexico has expanded, we’ve focused on partnerships that unite conservation efforts with local employment opportunities, attending to the connections between ecological and economic stability.

Fondly referred to as “Hellen with two Ls,” or simply “Castro,” in the office, Hellen Castro has been with TWP since 2020 as our Development and Outreach Manager. Hellen’s work spans departments, focused on the marketing communications, donor relationships, and fundraising efforts that support our programs.

As any experienced gardener will tell you, to get great results, plant the right crops for your climate, water and weed regularly, and most importantly, put time into building your soil.

Summer is in full effect for us at Trees, Water & People (TWP). Summer is filled with beautiful weather giving us the opportunity to have family gatherings, explore the outdoors, relax and rejuvenate. But amongst these long-summer days, we remain committed to the importance of our work during this season.

“El Día del Trabajador” or “Labor Day” is celebrated throughout Latin America on May 1st, but to us at TWP, we believe it should be celebrated every day! Our team is proud to collaborate with local partners that help train, empower, and engage people to work hard for their communities, natural resources, rights, and economic opportunities.

For years, TWP has been studying and exploring innovative climate resiliency strategies across the Americas. In 2023, our Central America team had the pleasure of attending our first Climate Week in Panama, where we met exemplary organizations working across Mesoamerica.

More than 30 years ago, the non-profit organization Asociación Hondureña para el Desarrollo (AHDESA) was established by its founder, engineer Ignacio Osorto, to serve vulnerable communities in Honduras.

The members of the ecological committee of the Aldea of Suyapa (COEAS), have many things in common, such as solidarity, empathy and passion, but above all, there is something that unites them: the love for nature.

Stories of hope and adversity have echoed through the livelihoods of Indigenous voices for time immemorial. There are times for humilIty during a storm and times for resilience. Those stories show us when to have humility and when to have resilience.

Gloribel Bautista is an Indigenous Lenca woman and Justa clean cookstove builder, who exemplifies the transformative impact of community engagement and education.

Five years ago Trees, Water & People ran a campaign - Roots of Migration - speaking to the rise in climate migration out of Central America.

We spoke to the fact that people migrated for three main reasons: 1. Security - including physical violence and sociopolitical violence like corruption, 2. Economic - where people weren't making enough income to live with dignity, and 3. Environmental - where people's land no longer provided for basic needs.