Fundación Para El Ecodesarrollo y la Conservación (FUNDAECO)
NGO founded: 1990
Partnership with WLT formed: 2008
Organisation’s aim: To protect the integrity and beauty of nature through the creation and management of protected areas, the sustainable use of natural resources, and improving quality of life for local people.
Partner history
FUNDAECO work to protect and manage reserves throughout Guatemala, while monitoring the social and economic needs of the local community to ensure that agricultural practices within and around reserves are maintained sustainably. FUNDAECO is a founding member of the National Association of Environmentalists (ASOREMA) and the Tri-National Alliance for the Conservation of the Gulf of Honduras (TRIGOH).
Partnership with WLT
WLT was introduced to the Executive Director of FUNDAECO, Marco Cerezo, at the 2006 partners’ symposium in the Netherlands, run by WLT and IUCN-NL. FUNDAECO had already received funding from mutual partner IUCN-NL and following discussions submitted a proposal to WLT for land purchase in Caribbean Guatemala. WLT and FUNDAECO became official partners in 2008 and the land purchase was secured the following year.
Projects with WLT
Tropical forest and Wetlands, Guatemala
This project aims to purchase and protect some of the last remaining wetlands in Caribbean Guatemala, supported through Buy an Acre fundraising.
Keepers of the Wild
WLT also supports FUNDAECO through the Keepers of the Wild appeal, which funds rangers on our partners' reserves.
Other projects and activities
- Creation and management of protected areas throughout Guatemala to safeguard the country's varied habitats;
- Community work involves helping with the legalisation of indigenous lands, assisting with sustainable agricultural practices, and empowering local people through their Rights to Reproductive Health programme;
- Running education projects particularly in the inner city areas, where they have a park to demonstrate the importance of conservation.
Awards and achievements
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2007: They obtained the Fundacion BBVA prize for Excellence in the execution of Conservation activities for Latin American biodiversity for their "Sustainable conservation and management of the Caribbean Tropical forests of Guatemala Biological Corridor"
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FUNDAECO have spent 18 years monitoring birds in Caribbean Guatemala - the most continuous programme in Latin America
General Director: Marco Cerezo
Sir David Attenborough, WLT Patron
