Help Us Fix Our Truck! Support Climate Justice in Guatemala

Help us buy a new transmission for our truck!

One of the two trucks we depend on to transport trees and volunteers is in the shop waiting for a new transmission. The repair will cost around $1500 and we don't currently have the funds to spare. Having functioning trucks is essential to our work. Anything helps. Maltiox! ¡Gracias! Thank you!

About the Chico Mendes Reforestation Project

[More info at www.chicomendesguatemala.org]

Chico Mendes is a community-run environmental justice nonprofit based in the Indigenous Guatemalan village of Pachaj. In 1998, Jorge Armando López Pocol and two friends became disillusioned with the politics of their local environmental organization. With 2,000 seedlings and a small tree nursery near Armando's home in Pachaj, they began reforesting community lands affected by illegal logging. Over the following year, Armando’s friends moved on to other work, leaving him in charge of the fledgling project. Armando subsequently named the initiative the "Chico Mendes Reforestation Project" in honor of the famous Brazilian environmental activist who was murdered while peacefully defending the Amazon rainforest and the indigenous people who live there.

Chico Mendes (fondly known as “El Proyecto” or “The Project”) is much more than just a reforestation organization in a rural town in Guatemala. With each tree planted, soil bag filled, and weed cleared, we sow the seeds of environmental justice in Guatemalan indigenous communities. We strive to protect forested lands from unjust exploitation, reverse climate change, empower the next generation of Guatemalans, stand up for local community decision-making, cultivate biodiversity, and inspire supporters from around the globe to take action.

Since our conception, we have grown to include two tree nurseries and now plant over 15,000 trees per year. We also provide local Cantel water committees with an additional 3,000-5,000 trees per year to plant around natural mountain springs. Our team includes several year-round employees, students from the Instituto de Educación Básica por Cooperativa Choquiac (IMEBCH) of Pachaj, and supporters from around the world who join us as volunteers. Since 1998 we have planted thousands of alder, oak, pine, and other trees endemic to the Guatemalan western highlands.

To give you a sense of our projects:

- In 2016 we reforested a 15 hectare parcel of government land surrounding the prison, La Granja Penal. The site borders the Samalá River, a local waterway contaminated by untreated sewage and chemical waste from nearby factories. Our forest of 15,000 new trees will both purify the river and silently protest government plans to expand the prison.

- In 2017 we planted nearly 20,000 trees, embarking on a 10-year project to reforest 252 hectares of Las Cumbres Paraxk'im de Cantel with 250,000 new trees.