Grupo Ecológico Sierra Gorda I.A.P. (GESG) was founded in 1987 as a civil society organization. Today, GESG leads and coordinates the Conservation Alliance for the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve. Biodiversity conservation and community development is at the heart of GESG’s work: its scope of operations include environmental education, community sanitation, watershed restoration, soil regeneration, diversification of productive capacities in local communities, climate change mitigation via a carbon offsetting mechanism, and the consolidation of an economy based on conservation. GESG seeks to replicate its successful projects in other parts of Mexico through national and international alliances with citizens, institutions, and government.
Bosque Sustentable, A.C., was founded in 2002 as a civil society organization. Its mission is to restore degraded soils and forests in Mexico by promoting regenerative soil management; training agricultural and livestock producers in best practices; creating community among holistic agricultural producers; measuring carbon capture in trees and soil; and developing voluntary carbon offsetting programs that provide landowners with payments for ecosystem services.
Viva Sierra Gorda was founded in 2004 as part of Earth Island Institute, located in Berkley California. It is responsible for fundraising, promoting new and relevant technologies, and managing the Biodiversity Carbon program and Carbon Neutral Planet platform, allowing companies and individuals to compensate their carbon footprint by supporting forest regeneration in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve.
Productos y Servicios Sierra Gorda, S.A. de C.V. was founded in 2008 and consists of Sierra Gorda Products and Sierra Gorda Ecotours. It supports conservation in the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve by empowering residents and diversifying sources of income. Its profits are used to promote sustainable tourism and assist local micro-enterprises to optimize operations, expand capacity, and improve quality through ongoing training, support, and marketing,
Joya del Hielo, A.C., founded in 1996, protects unique sites with high biological value within the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve by purchasing them for strict conservation. Today it protects 7,000 hectares of cloud, temperate, and tropical forests that host an important diversity of flora and fauna and where logging, cattle ranching, and other destructive activities have been eliminated.
