Prioritizing Biodiversity and Connectivity in Indigenous Communities of Oaxaca, Mexico

Our lab is contributing to a project that focuses on enhancing biodiversity and landscape connectivity within two Indigenous communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. This work is being done in partnership with the Integrator of Indigenous and Campesino Communities of Oaxaca (ICICO), a Mexican nonprofit representing sixteen communities with a deep, long-term commitment to forest-based carbon offsets (FBCOs). ICICO’s decades-long partnership with Duke University, fostered by Nicholas School faculty member Dr. Liz Shapiro-Garza, has grown to include collaborations with graduate students and faculty across various disciplines. 

This project brings together key partners to ensure a comprehensive approach to biodiversity and connectivity in Oaxaca. Santiago Izquierdo Tort, a researcher at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, brings expertise in sustainable forest management and conservation. Andrea Alatorre Troncoso, a forest ecologist at the National Institute of Ecology and Climate Change, contributes her knowledge of carbon dynamics and ecosystem services. Meredith Martin, Assistant Professor at North Carolina State University, focuses on forest management and landscape connectivity. Master’s students Brooke Rose, Brook Hemphill, and Mel Arcila are also working closely with Dr. Liz Shapiro-Garza, Dr. Meredith Martin and the larger team, contributing fieldwork, data analysis, and community engagement efforts. Together, this collaboration ensures a balance of scientific rigor and local knowledge, aimed at benefiting both the environment and Indigenous communities of Oaxaca.

Sub-Project Overview. Forest-based carbon offsets, which involve greenhouse gas emitters paying landowners to manage forests for increased carbon sequestration, offer the dual benefits of climate mitigation and enhanced ecological resilience through nature-based solutions. The way these forests are managed also has profound implications for regional biodiversity, and this project aims to explore those connections.

ICICO’s member communities manage over 42,870 hectares of land, supporting timber production, agroforestry, non-timber forest products, biodiversity conservation, hydrological resources, and ecotourism. Since 2008, they have participated in both national and international carbon offset markets, producing more than 1.9 million tons of CO2e offsets between 2020 and 2023. The organization is now interested in exploring the potential to form biological corridors between communities that are geographically contiguous, particularly a cluster of six communities in the Sierra Norte region and four communities in the Sierra Sur region of Oaxaca.

In particular, two ICICO communities in the Sierra Norte region—San Miguel Abejones and Santa Maria Jaltianguis—are interested in implementing community-based wildlife monitoring and management. They are eager to understand how different forest management practices may influence local wildlife populations.

Our sub-project consists of multiple components:

1. Conducting a thorough literature review on the wildlife, communities, and forest management practices in these regions.
2. Analyzing GIS data, weighted based on the results of a social science survey conducted with community members from Abejones and Jaltianguis.
3. Developing multi-taxa, participatory wildlife monitoring protocols that consider forest management type as a key factor.
4. Mapping potential conservation corridors within the clusters of ICICO communities to support greater connectivity and biodiversity conservation across the landscape.

Through this interdisciplinary research, we aim to provide scientifically informed, community-driven solutions that support both conservation and sustainable land use.