“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.

Located in the heart of the region, La Labor is much more than just a picturesque landscape; It is a natural sanctuary that plays a critical role in the region's livelihoods.

This year, I’ve had the privilege of traveling to Mexico twice. The first visit was a two-week-trip to three different Departments in Mexico (Puebla, Veracruz, and Oaxaca) to get to know our new potential partner Red Mocaf, visit their communities, meet their community leaders, and get to know the realities of each region.

This year’s Earth Day had a different shine to it than past years.

While we were shivering at 0℃ here at our annual Fort Collins, CO community celebration, our friends at COEAS in Honduras were in the thick of another heat wave, having put out yet another forest fire in their newly designated National Wildlife Refuge, and inaugurating the new protected area to the public.

Within two weeks of having legally created a new 12,600 acre national Wildlife Refuge Suyapa - Luís Hernán Valladares Baca “Mero” on the edge of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, it was set ablaze. Today, some 5% of the 59,000 acre La Tigra National Park, in Tegucigalpa is on fire, and the capital is shrouded in smoke.

In Guatemala, we had the pleasure of meeting our newest TWP team member, Marlen Garcia (CAP Coordinator), reconnecting with our newest partner FUNDEBASE while visiting local communities around the Quiche Department, and visiting the community of El Tarral and other efforts by our partner Utz Che’.

This week, after almost 40 years of struggle to draw attention to their cause, Honduras’ National Congress will hold a vote on declaring COEAS’s forest a 12,000 acre National Wildlife Refuge, based on the rich biodiversity seen and recorded there.

In November 2023, I had the opportunity to participate in the Gathering of Agroecological Promoters, titled "Land, Water, and Seeds: Millenary Heritage for Good Living." The event was collectively developed by a diverse group of 80 promoters representing approximately 13 indigenous communities.

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.

In the heart of the Opalaca Biological Reserve, nestled between the departments of Intibucá and Lempira in Honduras, Indigenous communities are making significant contributions to conservation through the adoption of the Justa 3D Stove.

Back in November 2020, Hurricanes Eta and Iota (category 4 and 5) hit Central America with devastating force, causing rivers to overflow, washing out roads and bridges, eroding farmland, and flooding entire communities.

Doña Bertilia Gómez, a primary school teacher, lives with her family in the community of El Churune, where approximately 200 inhabitants live and is located near the core area of the Comayagua Mountain National Park (PANACOMA). This area is a true natural treasure that captivates with its scenic beauty and biological diversity, reaches an area of 57,136 acres and has mountains that exceed 2000 meters above sea level. This mountain range is located in the department of Comayagua and is the main source of water for most of the population of the entire municipality.

It is with joy that we share about the beginning of a pilot collaboration with the Foundation for the Development and Strengthening of Grassroots Organizations (FUNDEBASE) of Guatemala, as part of the goals of the TWP Central American Program to expand into new territories serving the most vulnerable communities in the region.

Earlier this month we had the pleasure of hosting 13 of our partners and community leaders from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador at the first Mesoamerican Indigenous People and Local Communities Climate Week, which took place in Panama City.

Our partnership with Árboles y Agua para el Pueblo (AAP) in El Salvador has been going strong for over 2 decades. Together, we have developed a grassroots-led conservation program that includes rainwater catchment cisterns, tree nurseries for reforestation and watershed protection work, clean cookstoves, dry-composting latrines, women's entrepreneurship initiatives and forest and spring protection.

At Trees Water and People (TWP) we recognize and value the fundamental role that women have historically played in agriculture, food production, and the development of their communities. To make decisions in these areas they have faced diverse challenges for the enjoyment and equality of rights for a dignified life.

“We seek to help create work opportunities that people can be proud of and that contribute to a higher standard of living.”

At TWP we believe everyone deserves a dignified livelihood. A dignified livelihood is more than income security, it's one that provides a safe and enjoyable environment, that ensures dignity and respect and gives constant opportunities to transcend barriers and grow. At TWP, this starts from within.

One of our top priorities is helping create work opportunities that people can be proud of and that contribute to a higher standard of living. As TWP, we want to transcend the notion of "Economic Development" or "Economic Growth", terms that are often far from the real needs and demands of Central American communities and families.

In 2023, Trees, Water & People (TWP) will celebrate 25 years of creating environmental, social, and economic impact for frontline communities most affected by climate change.