Nature-based solutions for climate resilience of Indigenous and local communities in Guatemala

Project Details

Status: Active
GCBC Funding Round: RGC2
Grant Value: £ 847,784
Dates: Nov 31st-Oct 27

Published 19 Mar 2026

Shazad Manwa

Project Summary

Countries: Guatemala

Delivery Partner: Monash University, Indonesia, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Universitas Mulawarman, Universitas Papua

Principal Investigator: Prof Jeremy Haggar, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich,

Contact: j.p.haggar@gre.ac.uk

This project seeks to scientific and traditional local and Indigenous knowledge systems will be integrated in the design and assessment of nature-based solutions (NbS) to enhance their impact on the climate resilience and just wellbeing of rural communities in two regions of Guatemala.

Challenge

Local and Indigenous Peoples in two regions of Guatemala, Alta Verapaz and Chiquimula experience increasing impacts of climate change. In Alta Verapaz a wet region, unusual dry periods have led to over 60% loss of their main cash crop – cardamon, forest fires and water shortages, this is then followed by intense rains that cause land-slides cutting off roads and even causing loss of life. In Chiquimula a drier region crop losses traditionally occurring only in the drought conditions of El Nino, now occur more frequently as rains fail mid-cropping season. The project will bring together traditional knowledge and scientific assessment of agroforestry systems to identify options to increase climate resilience.

Insight

Increasing the presence of trees in agricultural systems has the potential to increase the climate and environmental resilience of the landscape. Agroforestry practices are spreading in both regions as farmers find crops with trees are more resilient to extreme climate events. Scientific evidence will be collected of the ecosystem services from agroforestry and forest remnants and model how they contribute to climate mitigation, hydrology and services to cropping systems. Traditional and scientific knowledge will be brought together to support local planning of climate resilience, between local and indigenous communities and local government and civil society stakeholders. Lessons from these processes will be shared with government stakeholders at regional and national level to inform policies and planning processes that support local and indigenous communities.

Collaboration

Co-implementation with associations from local and indigenous communities is essential for an equitable research and development process which we achieve though the participation of FEDECOVERA a federation of indigenous Q’eqchi’ cooperatives and ASORECH a Chorti campesino association. They lead the application of the research with the local cooperatives and communities who they represent, and most importantly conduct the research using the local languages to enable full community participation. They are supported by international researchers from University of Greenwich and CATIE (a Latin American research institution) and national researchers from the University of Valle in Guatemala both of which provide specialists in natural and social sciences. National government (especially Ministry of Environment) and civil society stakeholders participate in follow-up in the application of the knowledge documented to local policy and planning processes. This combination of disciplines, institutions, nationalities, and above all full participation of professionals from the local and indigenous communities ensure the trans-disciplinarity of the research undertaken.

In Alta Verapaz and Chiquimula we have the privilege to work with indigenous Q’eqchi’ and local communities in the Chorti region to support them in identifying how nature based solutions may help them in the face of climate change and how support from local and national institutions may better support their aims.

Prof Jeremy Haggar, Principal Investigator, Natural Resources Institute, University of Greenwich,

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CATIE

Prof Jeremy Haggar

Prof Jeremy Haggar leads the Ecosystem Services Research Group at the Natural Resources Institute. He has over 30 years’ experience conducting research and supporting development in Central America on sustainable agriculture and land-use. He has lead previous projects to support farmers and their organizations to implement and manage agroforestry production systems, and assessing the economic, social and environmental performance of those systems.